Armageddon Test Run
by isoner
Summary: Before utilizing a new technology, Cobra decides to test a new weapon, Compound Z, on the people of Jasper, NV, not realizing the towns alien neighbors. The story is now complete with chapter 19.
1. Cobra

Note: I do not claim ownership over any of the properties used in this fanfic.

Normally when I write a fanfic, I try not to alter things too much, so the story can fit into the regular continuity as much as possible (barring unexpected corssovers). That is not going to be the case with this story. It is going to be dark, and Im not sure what will be left standing at the end of it.

Armageddon Test Run 1

Chapter 1: Cobra

The Day Before:

The School Nurse, Freda, was well liked by the school staff, and loved by the children, so nobody paid any attention when she escorted a personal guest and his two very large bags into the nurse's office. Her visitor maintained a pleasant smile, but one could tell he was uncomfortable around children as he tried to avoid eye contact with the children they passed in the school hallways.

Once they were safely behind the closed doors of the nurse's office, his friendly demeanor dropped, and his surly personality shown through. "Don't open that," he instructed Freda when she set one of his bags down.

"Of course not. I know what you are carrying."

"Good," He said, as he pulled protective clothing out of one of the bags. Before long he was fully dressed, wearing the orange protective uniform of a Cobra Hazard Viper.

"I took the list of subjects you sent me, and I have their body weights listed on this chart," She offered him the paper. He examined it, then set it beside the tank of blue chemical he had just removed from a highly protective case. "One of the desired subjects, Jack Darby, is playing hooky today, but the rest of the students are here, and I have set up times for each of them to come by for their inoculation."

"Good, who is first?"

"Esquivel… he is the oldest boy of a large family. Are you sure you only want one of them?"

"Only need one. You seem to know a lot about the children. Did you research the subjects, or do you actually care about them?"

"I love working with children, this has been my dream job."

"And you are still fine with the plan?" the Hazard Viper asked, his hand gripping a pistol, in case it turned out that Freda had second thoughts.

"Everyone has to die sometime, and what greater gift could I give to these children than to die for the greater glory of Cobra."

The viper smiled under his hood. He always found it amusing when he encountered Cobra operatives who believed in their own publicity. On top of which, he thought most of the "Fred" series of Crimson Guardsmen were among the most pompous of them all, even when they were in the form of blond female school nurses.

The Viper checked the weight listed for the Esquivel boy and measured out the desired dose of the blue chemical. "Once we give this to him, we need to keep him under observation here for about an hour. The dose is suppose to take full effect tonight, but if it occurs too soon, it will be obvious early and we will need to put him down."

"I understand."

One by one, the children on the list came into the school infirmary, and one by one she gave each of them the shot that had been carefully measured out by the Hazard Viper, and one by one each child left the office feeling just as healthy as they had when they came in.

When everything was done, the Viper packed his equipment and suit back up into their cases and was ready to leave. "Remember," he told her, "leave your CG uniform in your office closet to be found when they come in to pick up the pieces. Get out of town before sundown, Cobra is sealing the town off then."

"Yes. I am traveling directly to Terror Drome 2 for evac and reassignment. Good Luck."

"Same to you," he said and the two undercover Cobra operatives each went their separate ways, each hoping and fearing what this operation would bring.

"It is already too late to call it off, Destro," Cobra Commander said, when he heard the footsteps of his closest and most trusted friend/rival/enemy behind him. He did not turn around, instead he watched the sun set through the window of Terror Drome 1, his armored fortress away from home.

"I wish I shared your confidence that this plan will work," Destro said. Above all else, he recognized that the Cobra Commander was a brilliant man, second to none in some things, but many of the man's plans were borderline insane. He wasn't quite sure this plan did not cross that boarder.

"No, I am not sure. That is why we are doing this operation as a test," Cobra Commander said, apparently in one of his more amiable moods, as he often was before the planned deaths of countless people. "Keep in mind, Destro, I have done extensive research on this subject."

"Hrumph… You watched a bunch of movies!"

The Commander laughed. "More than just that, Destro. You make it sound so simple! No much more than just watching movies, and reading all of the theoretical research on the subject. I have gone beyond all of that. For this test, we need a small, isolated location, without any trees or other cover that could hide someone when it comes time to sanitize the experiment. This location also needs to be near an abandoned government facility, so we can press the blame for the outbreak on the United States government in the press… all the while the people in power who matter, will know that it was really us, and the power that Cobra now possesses! All of those requirements bring us here, to Jasper, Nevada. The perfect location."

"So small, it wasn't even on my map," Destro said.

"Just as well. It won't be on anybody's map in a few days."

"Those poor fools," Destro said, with a genuine hint of sympathy in his voice. "They have no idea what they are in for."

"No they don't, they have no idea they should be afraid, do they? Don't worry about that, Destro. I will give them a fighting chance, by making them afraid," the Commander turned to one of his subordinates, "Televiper, wait until midnight, then activate the Terror Drome."

"Yes, sir!" The Televiper answered. Come midnight, he would activate the Terror Drome's secret function, and the entire instillation would emit a subsonic drone that would instill a subtle layer of fear over everyone within the Terror Drome's range… a range that currently included all of Jasper, Nevada.


	2. Raf

Armageddon Test Run

Author's note: I still don't own anything used in this fanfic. This is also the darkest thing I have written so far.

Chapter 2: Raf

The Day Before:

Raf Esquivel had forgotten to set his alarm to wake up for school, but it didn't matter, the noise his brothers and sisters were making as they got ready for school was more than enough to wake the dead. He stretched to wake up and discovered he was still dressed and curled up in his chair, with a sore neck to show for it.

"Mom," one of his sister shouted, "You put Raf's clothes in my closet!"

"Go ahead and wear them, you will grow into them."

"No, Mom, I've already outgrown them!"

"Of course you have, why are you telling me?"

He was the youngest of five children, and easily—no, usually forgotten, so it was not unexpected that no one had thought to check on him to see he had gotten to bed. According to the clock, he was already running late, fortunate then he was already dressed.

Unfortunately, his armpits failed the sniff test, so without time for a proper bath, he sponge cleaned the offending areas before he joined the stampede of feet down to get breakfast in the kitchen. The chaos of the family's breakfast routine rendered everyone's face as a blur. His older brother and sister had their breakfast's prepared for them by Mom and Dad, but they ran out of town before they got around to breakfasts for the rest of their children, same as they did every morning.

"Out of the way, Raf. Where's the toast?"

"Is the coffee going?"

"Mom, did you fix my lunch?"

"Where is the sugar?"

"Did anyone buy more milk?"

"On the counter."

"I can't find my homework."

"That one is Dads."

"Someone clogged the toilet."

"The other counter."

"Found it."

Raf grabbed a granola bar, and poured a bowl of chocolate cereal. His middle sister finished off the milk before he could use it.

"Raf, your ride is here!" his mom called when the yellow and black car pulled up.

"Thanks, Mom," Raf said as he rushed out of the house with his back pack, nearly tripping over his oversized hand-me-down pants.

"Wait a moment," his Dad said, inspiring Raf to wait to see what was about to happen. "Why doesn't Raf go to school with his brothers and sisters? Have we even met this friend of his?"

"I'm sure its fine," his Mom answered, "Raf knows better than to befriend a stranger, and your lunch is ready."

"I bet its some molester."

"Don't be silly"

"Like uncle N."

"He is in therapy now, so don't bring it up."

Raf sighed and trudged slowly towards the yellow car. The car was in reality his best friend, the Autobot known as Bumblebee.

Climbing into the car, Raf was greeted by a bleep that very few non-cybertronians could understand.

"Nothing, I'm fine," Raf answered even though he was depressed from constantly being ignored by his family.

Bumblebee responded with a few more whirrs and digital noises that were not exactly beeps.

"Wait, we are not going to school today? What's going on?"

The resulting electronic grind indicated that the Autobot scout did not know, and they would find out the specifics when they reached the Autobot base.

Normally, Bumblebee would simply take the short drive out of town to the Autobot's secret base, inside an abandoned US military base, but this time he drove to an out of the way road, with no witnesses, and opened up a ground bridge to base.

"You are the first one back, Bumblebee," Ratchet said when they arrived at the base.

"Hi, Ratchet," Raf greeted the grumpy older Autobot, but in response all he got from Ratchet was a grunt. That was the usual routine with Ratchet, interact with him for a few hours and he would warm up to him enough to speak to him almost like an equal.

"Clear the pad, Bulkhead is coming through."

Raf and Bumblebee quickly cleared the area moving up to where they expected Optimus Prime would brief them on the change of plans for the day.

Bulkhead drove through the portal at full speed, skidding to a halt just short of Ratchet and his equipment.

"Whoo-Hoo! Free hooky day!" Miko shouted when her feet hit the floor.

Ratchet sighed, "Clear the pad, please."

"Come on, Ratchet, where is your sense of fun?"

"Rusted away years ago," Ratchet dryly answered, "Bulkhead?"

"Come along, Miko, lets see what Prime has to say."

"Awww…"

"Ratchet," Raf asked, "Do you know what is going on?"

"Optimus will explain," Ratchet said, "Personally, I think its nothing, but Prime wants to err on the side of caution."

Jack came through the portal next, riding the purple motorcycle better known as Arcee.

"Now will someone tell me what is going on?" Jack asked.

"They are saving the answers for Prime," Raf said.

"Of course."

"We don't want to keep him waiting, Jack," Arcee said, while she herded the humans up the stairs.

"If this turns out to be nothing, my Mom is not going to be happy about us missing school."

"Ugh, your Mom wouldn't be happy unless we were all chained down in study hall!" Miko said.

"That's neither fair or true, Miko," Jack retorted.

Miko's comeback was interrupted by a series of sounds from Bumblebee.

"That's tellin them, Bee," Bulkhead said while Raff chuckled at Bumblebee's retort.

"What? What did he say about me?" Miko demanded.

"We don't have time for this," Arcee said, "Just get to the briefing hall."

When they were all seated on a platform (table) in front of Optimus Prime and his computer display, Prime began his briefing.

"The past 24 hours have seen an alarming amount of activity in the areas surrounding Jasper," Prime said. "A series of six large bunkers were assembled overnight in a pattern surrounding Jasper that suggests a potential blockade or other action."

"What kind of action?" Miko asked.

"Unknown, but in addition to the bunkers, we have detected an alarming amount of air and ground traffic going between these bunkers, but never into the city limits. I felt it safer to keep you here than to let you go about your normal routines in case these bunkers were set up by either the Decepticons or MECH as a way to capture you."

"Do you really think they would do all this just to get us?" Raf asked.

"I don't know. It is possible they are just observation platforms intending to follow you so that you will lead them to our base. Or they could attempt to capture you as a way to acquire our cooperation. "

Late that afternoon, Prime and Jack's Mom came down from their discussion and interrupted Miko's jam session with Jack and Raf. Raf enjoyed being included, even if he didn't really like the music, and would have preferred it if he actually had a choice whether or not he was to be part of the band.

"We have determined that the Decepticons are not behind the bunkers, but we cannot eliminate the possibility of MECH or some other force," Optimus Prime said. "We will not interrupt your routines tomorrow so as to avoid attracting additional attention to you, at the same time, we will not be bringing you here. We, along with Agent Fowler's assistance, will be keeping both you and the bunkers under increased surveillance. I swear, we will not let any harm befall you."

The First Day:

Raf awoke in his own bed with a strange feeling of dread. He was afraid, but he wasn't sure why. Everything in the room seemed too take a sinister form, even after he put his glasses back on. It wasn't the fear that woke him, but the usual voices coming down the hall. According to the clock, it was hours yet before he needed to get up for school.

"Mom something is wrong with him!"

"Should we take him to the hospital?"

"They won't do anything but watch him, we can do that here."

"I don't think he is breathing!"

"What?"

"Help! Get help!"

Raf scrambled out of bed and stood in the doorway where his entire family was running around in circles around his eldest brother who lay white and still in bed. If anyone had been thinking clearly, they would have called for an ambulance, but everyone was in a panic.

"Wait, he is moving!"

It was true, his eldest brother was moving. Not much, and the movements didn't look quite right. His chest didn't seem to be moving up and down, taking breath, either.

"OW! He bit me!"

"Hold him down!"

"He's gone crazy!"

"He took a big chunk out of me… I need a doctor.

"Later, help me hold him down!"

"Gah! He bit me too!"

"Get out of the room, everyone!"

Raf got pushed out into the hallway by the rush of his family as they ran from the crazed teenager who was flailing around, trying to eat his family members. They slammed the door shut behind them and held it fast.

"I admit it, you were right, we should have installed door locks."

"Ow, it hurts."

"What does?"

"Where he bit me."

"Me too. I really don't feel good."

"Call the hospital."

Finally, someone was starting to think clearly.

Raf ran back into his room and threw his oversized pants on, once that was accomplished, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

Before he could punch in the three digit emergency code to summon help, he heard his father's piercing scream from down the hall. Two of his siblings, the ones his eldest brother had bitten, had turned on their father and each had taken a huge bite out of him. One from his leg, the other from his side.

As their dad went down in pain, his eldest brother was able to force his bedroom door open. His brother's eyes were white as a dead man's and blood dripped from his nose and mouth.

Raf realized his brother looked exactly like a zombie.

His father remained still as he bled out on the floor.

Raf was knocked off his feet and into his room, by his mother and sister ran past him, and down the hallway.

His other brothers and sisters quickly stumbled down the hallway after the fleeing women. For a moment, just a moment, they seemed to pause outside his bedroom door. He thought they were about to come for him, but instead they chose to ignore him, just as they had in life, and resumed the chase of the more lively prey.

Raf found his phone open, and his body and mind paralyzed with fear. His finger somehow found the redial button, and he called not the Police or Hospital, but Bumblebee.

When the Transformer answered the call, Bumblebee's static face appeared on the phone's tiny screen. It took every last ounce of bravery and determination he had to utter even a single word to his friend…

"h-help… "

Silence dominated the next second, then he heard more shuffling as another zombie shambled down the hallway, this one had once been his father. It, too, ignored him.

He heard twin screams come from downstairs, and forced his eyes closed.

He didn't want to think, not about this. Not about anything.

The outside wall of his bedroom disappeared in a shower of splinters and a massive pair of robotic hands ripped the wall away.

Bumblebee's robotic sensors detected that Raf was the only remaining life form within the building. Organic matter he detected on the interior walls of the house indicated that whatever had happened to the rest of Raf's family had been particularly gruesome. He also blamed himself as he arrived in front of Raf's house just in time to see two additional life signs wink out.

Carefully, the Autobot picked up his traumatized friend, and cradled him in his arms.

Bumblebee's sensors detected 6 human sized heat signatures moving away from the house, but their temperatures were rapidly dropping to room temperature. It would be much harder to track them down later, but it was more important to get Raf to safety. Besides, he didn't know what he could do with them if he caught them.

The street lit up with the brightness of the ground bridge.

Elsewhere, in one of the Terror Dromes, Cobra Commander chuckled to himself. He delighted in the plan that was currently unfolding. It was so simple. He had given a carefully selected group of students at a school a dose of Compound-Z, carefully timed to take effect now.

Throughout the town of Jasper, the infected children were dying and transforming into Zombies that would kill and infect their own parents.

It would be delightful to track the progress of the disease, and an even bigger delight to see if the authorities who would investigate later would be able to track down the true origin point of the outbreak.

"Yes," the Commander said, "This is going to be fun."


	3. June Darby

Armageddon Test Run

Note: In responce to some thoughts on the last chapter, I do not hate Raf. Or any of the characters, which I still do not own.

Chapter 3: June Darby

The day before:

June Darby had finally come to the conclusion that she would always have to worry about Jack and his friends. It had taken her a while, but Optimus Prime and Arcee had proven to her that they truly did have the children's best interests at heart, but that was only a small comfort.

She tried to lose her worry by burying herself in her work as a nurse at the Hospital. That was also how she tried to cope with Jack's rebelling against her and disobeying her instructions, and her sense of loneliness, and her marriage problems before Jack's Dad had been removed from the chaotic picture that was her life.

Unfortunately, there were times when the worries from her home life insisted on following her to work, such as when she received the phone call from the school, informing her that Jack had skipped school.

She sighed into the handset, "What about Miko Nakadai, or Rafael Esquivel?"

Yes, those children were also absent from the school, although the secretary was not sure she was suppose to say that.

"No, its alright. I think I know where the children are. Thank you for notifying me."

June knew Optimus Prime, and that he would not take such drastic actions without good reason, but she was still angry enough with him to want to rip his tailpipe out through his grill! Jack was her son, Prime had no right making such decisions without consulting her, or at least letting her know!

She quickly found her shift supervisor, "I just got a call from Jack's school. I need to go for a few hours, but Ill be back."

"Ok, June. I hope everything is alright?"

"Me too."

Minutes later, June was in her car driving across the desert. So intent was she on her course that she failed to pay any real attention to the strange tanks and military vehicles that were parked along the side of the road a few miles outside of town, although she did keep an eye on her rear view mirror to make sure that no one was following her to the biggest secret she knew.

As usual, the side of the mountain opened up to admit her car, and she drove her car directly into the heart of the Autobot's base.

"Oh, great! Prime's wife is here," Miko said sarcastically when she saw June's car pull into the base.

Ratchet grumbled something about trouble arriving sooner than expected, but when she stepped out of the car, he waved her to the next room without looking up from the computer console he was examining. "He's in there," he said.

As soon as she left the room, she heard the horrible mix of sounds that Miko thought was music erupt from the room behind her. "Prime, what is the big idea?"

"Ah, Mrs. Darby… I have been expecting you."

"Damn right you have," she started, and wanted to lay into him. God, that was how she had always reacted to her former husband too. She forced herself to calm down. She knew Prime would not do anything without ample reason, but she needed to know what it was. THEN she could lay into him.

Optimus Prime explained about the bunkers that had been constructed overnight, surrounding the town, and his reasons for keeping the children safe for their own, as well as the Autobot's protection. He told her some additional reasons that had been omitted from what he had told the children.

In return she told Prime about the military vehicles she had passed on her way to the base, information which Prime filed, and added to a larger picture. "Look, I know you did what you think was right. And it was the right thing to do… maybe. But you have to understand that I am Jack's parent and guardian. You should have informed me first, then I could have made up an excuse to the school… all your pulling them out of school for the day has done is to draw more attention to the children."

"I had not considered that."

"Instead of pulling the children under a rock to hide, you should instead keep them at a distance, and watch to make sure they are not being followed."

"Your plan is logical… We don't bring the children in, and watch the new arrivals to see what they are up to, and if they are trying to follow the children. But, what if their plan is to abduct them, instead of simply following them to us?"

"Then, no force on this Earth will keep me from getting Jack and the others back, and seeing to it that whoever dares to threaten him forever regrets their decision to do so!"

"On that, Mrs. Darby, we are agreed," Optimus Prime said.

"I am definitely not picking up any energon readings from the bunkers," Ratchet came in and told June and Prime. "So whatever they are, they are not Decepticons."

"Understood," Prime said, "I think it is time we called in Agent Fowler."

Snowing no sign of impatience at explaining the situation for the third time that day, Optimus Prime briefed Fowler on the situation over a secured video link, relying on June Darby to add details about the military vehicles she had passed that she did not even realized she remembered. Over the course of the briefing, Fowler looked more and more concerned.

"MECH is in the area for an arms deal. I sincerely doubt they would expose their operation with such a… visible show of resources," Fowler said.

"You know something," Prime said.

"Nothing certain, you understand," Fowler said, "You and your team should stand down for now. I am going to call in some outside support to look into the situation."

The screen went black before Prime or June could press for any more information.

The first day:

It was still dark outside when the telephone woke June from a not quite sound sleep. Something it the air was filling her with dread, an as yet undefined fear was stuck in the back of her head.

"Hello?" she answered, it was the hospital of course. Just as they had done many times before something had happened to one of the other nurses, and could she come in? This time it was a little bit different, the nurse had gotten injured on the job when a patient bit her. Weird, but when the Emergency Room is concerned, anything can happen.

"Sure, I'll be there as soon as I can."

She got dressed as quietly as she could, so as not to wake Jack. Sometimes it seemed like she never wore anything but her scrubs. She left Jack a note on the kitchen table, in case he wondered where she went, but she was sure he would know anyway. It wasn't like she ever went anywhere else.

When she backed her car out of the garage, she noticed that Arcee had not yet snuck back into the garage. Not that big a surprise, she had things to do, like scouting those strange bunkers.

She got a bigger surprise when she reached the Hospital. The entire Emergency room entrance was blocked off by Police cars and security. She was waved around to the entrance on the far side of the Hospital when she showed one of the Police Officers her Hospital ID.

This part of the Hospital was normally dark and hardly used at night, with most of the patients sleeping until the nurses brought them their morning medications, but because of whatever was going on in the Emergency wing, the hallways were bustling with activity.

While she walked through the hallways she put together an idea of what apparently happened based on what the patients, doctors, RNs and the rest of the staff were telling each other. It seemed that a child died in the ER waiting room… CPR was performed and he was revived and moved into the ICU. In the mean time, another child was brought into the ER with the same symptoms, who was rushed into a room for observation.

At that point the story became a little confusing. Some people insisted that both the children died an hour later, and within minutes of each other. Others insisted that the children came around, and became enraged attacking family and staff around them, and were so bad that they needed to be restrained. All of the stories seemed to agree that many of the staff who had come into contact with the patients soon showed symptoms of a more advanced form of the same illness that the c children had.

"June!" One of her fellow nurses called, "Thank god you are here, but you should not have come in. Its all gone to Hell here tonight. The police have totally sealed off the Emergency wing. I think there are still patients and staff in there who are not infected yet."

"Attention all staff," the intercom announced, "Anyone not currently occupied, please attend the briefing being held now in the auditorium."

"Lets go," June said to her friend as they rushed to the auditorium.

Just before they reached the auditorium, they passed a police officer who had been handcuffed to a safety rail. "What's wrong with him?" June asked.

"Don't go near him! He will bite!" Her friend answered. "He was bitten by one of the infected patients, so he handcuffed himself to the rail so he wouldn't hurt anyone when he became a 'zombie.' Silly, isn't it? To think that this disease is some sort of monster movie."

June watched the man, with his dead eyes as he strained against his handcuffed arm, uselessly trying to get at anyone who passed by. "I don't think that silly is the right word for it. Whatever his thinking, his actions were very brave."

In the lecture hall, everyone was seated, and the sense of fear was thick. "With the rapid spread of this disease, we have no way of knowing how many are currently infected. In addition to the quarantined Emergency wing, there are also reports of people with similar symptoms popping up across the city," Doctor Winchester addressed the assembly. "What we do know is that the disease is spread by the transfer of body fluids. The initial symptoms are flu-like, followed by a death like state in which the body readings drop enough to fool our equipment into thinking that the patient has died. Within minutes of this stage, the patient regains consciousness and enters a bizarre rage in which they attack anyone near them. More often than not, this attack involves biting, and the transferring of the disease. This far, we have not seen the next stage of the disease; I would theorize the rage is from brain swelling so the next step would be death."

"What are the brainwave readings of the rage stage?" someone asked.

"Thus far, no one has been able to take any readings at that stage due to the violent outbursts. The second child did have the wires hooked up before he entered the rage stage, but the equipment must have been damaged as it continued to show no activity.

"Doctor Bronson was working on a theory about the disease, but unfortunately he and his staff have also become infected. The laboratory section has also been quarantined, in addition to the Emergency wing.

"Because of this additional quarantine, we will have to send any samples or blood work to an off-site facility for testing. Most of our more sensitive testing equipment is also behind the quarantine lines. We are trying to make arrangements, but so far we have been unable to reach anyone outside of Jasper."

There were other questions asked too, mostly stupid ones that had already been answered, but the room came to a deathly quiet when a thumping sound was heard at the back door to the auditorium.

When the thumping continued, Dr. Winchester decided to put an end to it, "Somebody, please see who is at the door."

As soon as the latch was turned, the door burst open. The police officer who had handcuffed himself to a rail in the hallway burst in, looking much the worse for wear, and the general sense of fear that had been in the back of everybody's mind erupted into a full panic as the hospital staff started running to the far end of a room with only one exit to get away from the infected patient who now blocked that exit.

Maybe it was the fact that nothing could frighten her more than knowing her son was hanging out with giant warring robots, but she found she was able to retain her reason, even while being jostled by her co-workers as they climbed over chairs.

She studied the former police officers jerky movements, but did not have to wonder how he had gotten loose. While trying to pursue the uninfected staff to their meeting, he had apparently continued trying to follow until he had pulled his own arm off. More than that, the man was not bleeding heavily from the wound. She found herself starting to believe that maybe they were already dead.

She needed to take some blood samples. She wasn't sure who she should get to analyze them; Dr. Winchester, who was trying to climb up a blackboard, or maybe Dr. Ratchet, who admittedly had no experience with human biology.

"Somebody hold him down!" she yelled.

"I'm not getting infected!"

The zombie was already moving past her, heading towards the mass of doctors and nurses at the back of the room.

"John, help me!" she shouted to a fellow nurse, and one of the few guys who bothered to flirt with her from time to time.

"How?" he said, grabbing one of the folding chairs to use as a weapon.

"Good idea," She said and grabbed a folded up chair of her own. She rushed towards the zombie and swung the chair like an ax at it's legs.

The zombie toppled back, falling like a stack of cards. John jumped on top of him, pinning him down with his own chair.

With the hard work done, the other staff members calmed down and helped to restrain the former policeman.

"Why hasn't he bled out?"

"I'm not getting a pulse!"

"Don't let him bite you."

June slipped out the door into the hallway, which seemed clear of people. She hoped the police officer didn't attack anyone else on his way to the auditorium, but she could not be sure of that. She remembered Dr. Winchester saying that other cases had broken out across the city; she needed to call Jack.

Pulling out her cell phone, she saw she had a message, it wasn't important now, she needed to call Jack. The call was answered so quickly, she didn't even hear it ring, but it wasn't Jack's voice on the other end of the telephone.

"Nurse Darby? Thank Primus its you!" Ratchet's voice came over the telephone, showing unusual concern from the giant robot.

"Ratchet, what's wrong? Has something happened to Jack?"

"No, Jack is fine. Something has happened to Raf. I have run every diagnostic I can think of to no result. I… I need your help."

"Something strange is going on, so I can't leave the hospital. Can you bring Raf and the kids here?"

"Sure, Jack is with me now, Bulkhead is waiting for Miko. Are you sure you want them all there?"

"I'll feel better when I can keep an eye on them," June said, even though she was sure Ratchet didn't agree with her logic.

"Fine. Ill have Arcee and the others drop them off at the hospital."

"Ratchet, I think it would be best if you came yourself."

"And why is that?"

"Because nothing blends in better at a Hospital than an Ambulance."

"Ah. Fine. Ill bring Raf and Jack. Bulkhead will meet us there with Miko."

"June, An ambulance driver outside is asking for you."

"Thanks," she said, rushing outside, Bulkhead was parked outside, and behind him an ambulance with an Autobot symbol and Bumblebee was parked behind that. Miko paced between them, with a look of worry on her face.

"What's wrong with Raf?" Miko asked immediately, "He won't say anything!"

"Let me at least take a look at him before I give you any diagnosis," told the hyperactive Japanese girl.

She opened the back of the ambulance, expecting the worst… that Raf had contracted the zombie virus, but she was not prepared for what she did see.

Raf sat on the stretcher, curled up into a fetal position. His eyes were staring out, but she could not be sure he was actually seeing anything. The rest of the ambulance was the real surprise, it had all the equipment she would expect to find in an ambulance, except it was more advanced versions of it, and beside that, was more unusual equipment that she would only expect to find in the hospital itself.

"Ratchet, I've never seen this stuff in an ambulance before."

"Thirty years ago, our sampling equipment was very simple. When we would sample a native form, our systems would reconfigure us into an exact copy. Our more recent scanning software is more advanced, and uses the local scans as a framework which it then modifies to the highest level of technology one could possibly expect to find in a similar vehicle. The car Bumblebee sampled did not even have working air-conditioning, but Bumblebee's car mode has that, and a fully working game computer system installed." It was also how Airachnid was able to scan a simple helicopter to adapt it into her stealth helicopter vehicle mode.

Jack had ridden in Bumblebee, and came to stand by to watch his mother work as she attached leads to Raf, and took his blood pressure with the various equipment in the back of Ratchet.

"His blood pressure is low… " she made notes to herself as she worked on Raf.

"I wondered what that stuff was for," Ratchet said as June Darby started to work on Raf.

While she worked she brought Ratchet, Jack, Miko, and she assumed Bumblebee and Broadside's hearing was good enough to hear her, on the situation inside the hospital.

Miko obviously failed to grasp the seriousness of the situation as her assessment of June's description of events was a "Zombies? COOL!"

"Bumblebee, scout the quarantined areas, see what your sensors can detect," Ratchet told the Autobot scout. The yellow and black car backed silently away, to do his job undetected.

"I look forward to hearing Bumblebee's report," Ratchet said, "My own sensor readings are showing some unusual readings that simply cannot be correct!"

"Nothing seems to be physically wrong with Raf," she finally announced, "He seems to be in shock. Has he undergone some sort of trauma? Where is his family?"

"Missing. Bumblebee found the house empty except for Raf. He said that there were signs of a struggle and a red biological liquid was splattered on some of the walls and floor."

"Red liquid? Blood, like this?" She held up a blood sample she had taken from Raf.

"Yes, that would match the liquid that Bumblebee described."

She hugged the young boy to her, "Oh, god, Raf, what did you see?"

"Ratchet, what do your sensors detect in the hospital?" Jack asked, and June knew what he was doing. The same way she buried herself in her work, Jack couldn't help Raf, so he was trying to find another angle to the overall situation that he could do something about.

"Trace amounts of Dark Energon."

"You mean the stuff that made those robotic zombies? Can it do that to humans too?" Jack asked.

"No. While no form of Energon is good for humans to be exposed to, Dark Energon cannot have such an effect on any biological entity. No, I suspect that whatever is behind this, has been exposed to, or somehow treated with Dark Energon. Its energy signature is unmistakable."

June was lost by that train of thought, but Miko took it in a direction that she did not expect.

"Great," Miko said, "You can use your Dark Energon detector to track down the Zombies."

June wanted to point out that they didn't need to track anything, all the zombies were locked up in the two quarantined areas of the Hospital, but she knew two things. There were other cases out roaming the city, probably including Raf's family, and that in all the zombie movies she had ever seen, no quarantine ever held a mass of zombies back for long.

"I am going to need a blood sample to determine this for sure, preferably from a living subject. If Dark Energon is involved, then I think we can be relatively sure that this zombie disease is not a natural phenomenon."

"Blood samples were taken," June said, "Unfortunately they are in there." She pointed to the quarantined Emergency wing.

"Well, we will have to come up with something," Ratchet said.

June noticed a strange look of concern in Jack's eyes.

"Don't worry, Jack," she said, "Raf is going to come through this just fine."

"Thanks, Mom," he said, I'm… going to go check on Miko."


	4. GI Joe

Note: I still do not own any of the characters in this story. I do own action figures of Specialist Trakker, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Low Light, Duke, Hawk, and Flint, but that is about the extent of any ownership on my part. I am relatively new to the whole Zombie thing, and Im still not sure if I am a fan of them or not. I did enjoy HOTD, Shawn of the Dead and Zombieland.

Chapter 4: GI Joe

The day before:

"The Pentagon reports that something strange is going on in Jasper, Nevada," General Hawk addressed Duke, Flint and Scarlett, "And this satellite imagery confirms it. Specialist Trakker has already been dispatched as he was in the area on another assignment; I need you to assemble a team, and a plan of action."

"Where did the initial report of Cobra activity come from?" Duke asked.

"That is need to know information only."

"Any potential targets in the area?"

"There is an abandoned Nuclear Missile base outside the zone Cobra has surrounded," Hawk answered.

"Then Jasper is likely Cobra's target," Scarlett surmised, studying the satellite photos.

"That was my assessment as well," Hawk agreed. "It is a small town, but they have it surrounded by a series of Terror Dromes. The satellites only located one or two HISS tanks, but they have several Rattlers on site, along with several lighter vehicles. So far, they are laying low, nobody but us and our source knows that Cobra is there."

"Do you think they are going to turn Jasper into another Springfield?" Flint asked.

"I doubt it," Duke answered, "Springfield was turned from the inside out. This… who knows."

"They may just be planning to turn Jasper into a statement," Scarlett said, "Something to remind us exactly why Cobra is considered a terrorist organization."

Specialist Trakker's truck, looked like a normal big rig, but it was actually the Rhino, an early prototype that eventually led to the very different RHINO the Joe team adopted in 2005. The truck was parked outside truck stop, and was easy for Scarlett, and Snake-Eyes to find.

"Nice to meet you again, Sir" Scarlett addressed Trakker."

"Likewise, Scarlett, Snake-Eyes," he answered, "Did you have any trouble getting here?"

"None, Cobra really is keeping a low profile, not that they would look twice at the rental car I used to get here."

"Same here," Trakker said. "No indication of any Cobra activity within Jasper, but my Radar has shown a lot of Cobra activity outside the city limits. Mostly the arrival of more FANGS and Ratters."

Fangs were small one man helicopters, while the Rattlers were a MARS Industries variant that turned the A-10 Warthog into a VTOL aircraft.

"What about the rest of your team" Trakker asked.

"Duke has taken most of our forces and is dividing them into strike forces to attack each of the Terror Dromes if needed. They are staying well hidden as well. Most of the rest of us have been scouting the area in more detail. Alpine reports that Rock Vipers have taken up positions around the local buttes. Low Light is keeping an eye on our surrounding area here so we don't get snuck up on. Agent Helix reports that the Cobra's seem to be setting up roadblocks along all of the roads leading in or out of Jasper. Also, as we were driving in, Snake-Eyes took a closer look at one of the Cobra airfields. The Rattlers are not equipped with their standard ordinance. They all seem to be equipped with incendiary bombs, they have enough to firebomb this entire city twice over."

"So, should we move on them now, or wait until they complete their plans?" Trakker asked.

"General Hawk wants us to take a wait and see approach to keep them from using Jasper's citizens as hostages."

"Going to be a long night."

The first day:

Specialist Trakker was woken shortly after midnight by a beeping sound from one of the Rhino's computers. As soon as he had checked on it, Scarlett and Snake-Eyes were behind him.

"The Terror-Dromes have gone active," he said.

"The nagging sense of unease in the back of your head should have told you that," Scarlett said.

Trakker and the others climbed out of the truck and he donned his battle helmet, dubbed Spectrum. "Yes I can see it, all of the Dromes have gone active, but still no air activity."

"Let's take a drive," Scarlett suggested, "Low Light, can keep an eye on the rental."

Trakker activated Spectrum to negate the effects of the Terror Drome's subsonic sound within a ten foot radius. The effect was immediate, in that it allowed the Joes near him to think clearly.

Scarlett touched her earpiece, "Jinx just reported in. Cobra has closed all the roads, and they have started patrols to maintain a perimeter around the city."

"What are they setting in motion here?"Trakker wondered aloud, "Other than the standard Terror Drone's subsonics, I'm not detecting any other types of control signals into Jasper."

"There are other signals," Scarlett corrected, "I'm still in contact with Helix and Low Light, but not with anyone else."

Trakker used Spectrum to call his home phone, but that signal was also being blocked. "Ok, Cobra has completely sealed off the city."

Snake-Eye's hand suddenly gripped both Trakker and Scarlett's shoulders.

"Stop the truck!" Scarlett interpreted.

Trakker applied the brake, and found himself staring in the same direction as the silent man dressed in black. Spectrum's enhanced audio sensors picked up a scream. Then another.

They flung the truck doors open and ran on foot through a suburban neighborhood to the source of the screams. Snake-Eyes was quickest, with Trakker right behind him and Scarlett bringing up the rear, mostly because she had not heard the sound.

Rounding the side of a darkened house, they saw three figures at the end of the street. It looked as if a child and young adult had attacked a newspaper delivery man, whose car was idling nearby.

The attack concluded, the victim and his car no longer held any interest for the two attackers, who shambled further down the street away from the rushing Joes.

"Did you see those two? They weren't moving quite right. Drugs?" Scarlett asked.

Snake-Eyes nodded to the first part, but shrugged at the second.

Reaching the victim, Scarlett took his pulse, and tried to reassure him, "It's going to be alright, sir. We will get you medical treatment."

The man was obviously in pain and struggling to breathe, but one glance told each of them that it was a matter of seconds before the man died, no matter what medical treatments they gave him.

With Spectrum in medical mode, Trakker could literally see the life signs as they dropped to zero, and the poor paper delivery man died.

Snake-Eyes placed a calming hand on Scarlett, and she stood, still staring down at the dead man. "This is just senseless, it is as if they tried to eat him."

"Could Cobra have done something to turn the locals into deranged cannibals?" Trakker asked

"I don't know. We will have to wait and see if this is more than an isolated incident," Scarlett said.

"All the same, let's not eat or drink any of the local food until we have it tested."

"Agreed," Scarlett said, before Snake-Eyes abruptly pulled her away from the body.

The dead man was standing up, a blank look in his eyes, and still reading as completely dead to Spectrum's sensors. It lunged at the three of them.

Snake-Eyes moved, and there was a flash of steel followed by the thumps of a hand, a head and a decapitated body fell back to the ground.

The silent man looked back at his companions, but only Scarlett could read the disbelief in his featureless mask.

"That did not just happen, did it?" Scarlett asked.

"I don't believe it, but yes," Trakker said.

Then as one the three Joes took off to follow the attackers.

On the next street they saw the two of them closing in on a woman who was getting into her car, presumably getting ready to go to work.

Scarlett fired off a bolt from her crossbow, striking the older attacker in the back. The attacker did not even seem to notice.

Trakker raised his own gun to fire, but lowered it again when he realized he might hit the woman as well. He settled for the classic line instead, "Stop, or I'll shoot!"

That got the attention of the intended victim, but the attackers paid it not attention.

Snake-Eyes ran faster, trying to close the distance before it was too late.

Finally Trakker paid attention to the readings Spectrum was feeding him on the attackers and their victim. "They are not alive! The attackers are already dead!"

Snake-Eyes was within range, and his sword flashed in the glow of the streetlights. The two headless attackers fell to the ground, and the intended victim was nursing a slight wound to her hand.

"My God, they bit me!" the woman exclaimed.

"Let me see," Scarlett said, and examined her wound. "It's nothing serious, but I think you should stay home with your family today. Something is going on, and you should stay where it is safe."

The woman nodded, and went back into her house.

The unprofessional part of Matt Trakker rebelled, thinking 'Zombies, are we really going to report a zombie outbreak to the Pentagon?'

"It wouldn't be the first time," Scarlett said, as if reading his mind, "Cobra has had Toxic Zombies in the past."

"That was different from this, that was pollution induced mental illness with a touch of leprosy. This is more like an honest to goodness movie zombie outbreak!" How many different Zombie movies had his son forced him to watch over the years? Too many. Why were boys always drawn to R rated movies?

"I wouldn't put Dr. Mindbender past anything. This could be exactly what Cobra has cooking in this town. Lets continue to look around, inform Helix and Low-Light what we found, and find a way to update the Joes outside the Cobra jamming curtain."

"Right," Trakker agreed, then turned to look back at the woman's door. "You know, in the movies, all it takes is a single bite to turn someone into a Zombie."

Scarlett seemed amused, "Look, it was just a scratch. She will be perfectly fine."

Scarlett and Trakker turned back to return to the Rhino, but Snake-Eyes continued to stare at the door for a couple more seconds.

It would take a couple of hours, but Scarlett was wrong. The woman was not all right, and her family paid the price.


	5. Vince

Notes: I own nothing, and am merely letting a story tell itself. This will be a short chapter, I suspect.

Chapter 5: Vince

A few hours before the first day:

Young Vince revved the engine of his car, he was already running late for the street race he planned to win that night. He would have to exceed the speed limit in order to make it to the race before it began, but speed limits didn't mean much to him anyway.

The sun had long gone down, and the race was just outside of town, as he sped along the road he could already make out the lights of the other racers who were waiting for the race to start. They would be his usual friends from their school, and a couple of cute girls. Couldn't have a race without a cute girl to start it. Well, Ethan didn't think so, but he preferred guys.

Something didn't quite seem right to Vince as he was racing down the road, and if he had been driving any slower, he may have noticed the unusually high number of wrecked cars he was passing as he drove along.

He must be later than he thought; the road was already blocked by headlights shining in his direction from both lanes.

He thought he heard shouting over the roar of his engine, but it didn't matter, he turned his car to go off the road and onto the flat plains to come around behind the other racers. It would also give them a real show of his driving skills.

He didn't get far. The moment he did, fire erupted around him, and he slammed on the breaks.

Another explosion and the hood of his car ripped away and his car was engulfed in flames.

Pain. There was no thinking, he just felt pain.

The burning car rolled to a stop and he staggered out of it, clutching a hurt arm, and bleeding from several gashes.

He heard running as people came running from where the lights were. They had guns, and wore blue uniforms with helmets and face masks, and a red cobra on each of their chests.

He reached out to them, seeking help.

They raised their guns and fired.

Vince fell dead, bleeding from numerous bullet holes, and gashes, including a bullet hole that went through his head.

A man wearing orange protective gear approached Vince's body, and took a blood sample.

"Well," a Cobra Officer asked.

"Not infected," the Hazard Viper answered.

"Great, another street punk," the Officer said, then turned to his men, "Get rid of the body, and douse the flames. It won't be long before things start happening. You all know our orders. Let nothing out of the town… not panicked civilians, and especially not any infected subjects."


	6. Miko

Armageddon Test Run 6

Note: This chapter took way longer than I expected it to. I would have thought Miko would have been easier to write for. Anyway, I own nothing, and I hold no grudged against any of the characters… I'm just letting the story tell itself, and trying to keep the characters as close to their TV appearances as possible.

Chapter 6: Miko

The day before:

"Come on, Bulkhead, lets go!" Miko told her robotic companion, who was waiting for her outside her host parent's house in his hummer-like vehicle mode.

"Are you sneaking out again, Miko?" the Autobot asked in his gruff, yet gentle voice.

"Of course not, I'm going to school."

"Uh-huh," Bulkhead not convinced, as he pulled away from the house and began his planned detour to Groundbridge them both to the Autobot base.

In the house, Miko's host parents peeked through the windows. Her host dad was a tall man with brown hair and a mustache, while her host mom was shorter with blond hair. In many ways they were the stereotypical American couple. What drove Miko mad about them was that they acted reserved and aloof like a stereotypical Japanese couple. Just the sort of thing she had wanted to get away from when she applied to the study abroad program and relocated to the United States.

"Yeah, she just got in his car. Look at that gas-guzzler, he must be middle aged at least to be able to afford something like that," her host dad said, not vocalizing his worry that she had been seduced by someone who idolized her for her Japanese heritage, or worse that she would be pregnant before it was time for her to go home.

His wife shared his concerns, but did not vocalize them. She was nearly at her wits end, all of their attempts to bond with Miko had met with deaf ears, and she feared that if they were too critical with Miko it would simply drive the impressionable young girl further away from them and into the bad crowd she had obviously fallen in with.

Several hours later, and after her husband had gone to work, Miko's host mom answered the telephone. Miko had skipped school, the caller informed her.

Clearly, Miko was getting even more out of hand. They would have to take a firmer stand with her… that or they would be forced to either send her back home, or to let some other host family in another city take care of her.

That night, Miko's host parents settled into their beds for the night. They were satisfied with Miko's apologies and promises that she would never skip class again. She even promised to come directly home tomorrow.

That part was an easy promise for Miko to make given that the Autobots did not plan to take her to their base for the next couple of days.

They settled in for a restless night.

The first day:

It was still dark when Miko's host parents were awakened by the sound of Miko's cell phone going off down the hall.

Please tell me she is not going to sneak out of the house tonight, they thought.

A quick trip to the window confirmed that the dreaded green car was indeed waiting outside. They ran down stairs to stop her, but they were too late. Miko was already out of the house and climbing into the green car.

"Are we going to wait up for her to return?" her host mom asked with a hint of fear to her voice, but her husband was already pulling on his pants.

"No, I'm putting an end to this tonight!"

"What happened to Raf?" Miko asked Bulkhead.

"Not sure, Bumblebee wasn't clear, and he was speaking so fast, I could barely understand him."

"You too, huh?"

"Ratchet and Bumblebee are rushing Raf to the hospital, we are going to meet them there."

"Cool"

"Also, those structures that popped up around the town have started emitting a low level harmonic. Prime has sent Arcee to investigate that."

"So jack is on a wilderness adventure with Arcee?"

"Nah, he is with Ratchet."

"So Prime has bridge duty?"

"Yep," Bulkhead confirmed. He did not mention that someone seemed to be following them. Well, it wasn't a Decepticon, and if it was a human who wanted to try to interfere, well then too bad for them.

At the hospital, Miko watched with almost as much concern as Jack as Mrs. Darby examined Raf and she and Ratchet exchanged information. She found the news about the Zombie infestation of the Hospital exciting.

Real Zombies! That was as exciting as giant robots! She couldn't wait until she got to see one, the sooner the better.

Wait, Ratchet just said something about the Zombies being tied to Dark Energon. "Great," she said, "you can use your Dark Energon detector to track down the Zombies."

No, apparently that wouldn't work without a blood sample taken from an infected person before they became a zombie, and the only place that could be found was in the Emergency Room. Simple.

With Mrs Darby and the others so involved with discussing the boring details and technical details, almost no one noticed when she snuck off.

She really didn't know the layout of the hospital, but the signs were easy enough to read.

That alone was not quite enough. Whenever she came across a door that would lead into the Emergency wing, it was blocked either by a locked door, or by a group of Police officers or both; usually both.

Finally she came across the answer to her problem, she took the elevator up to the next level, from there she found unguarded hallways that leading over the Emergency Room, and since the stair entrances below were guarded she picked out an elevator that would take her back down into the Zombie infested part of the Hospital.

It was a perfect plan, after all, everyone knew that Zombies couldn't operate elevators, still, the police had not taken any chances, they had locked out each of the elevators to prevent their use. Too bad they left the key in one of them. "Pay dirt," She declared.

Still, she wondered what real zombies would be like, would they be like the old black and white movies, or faster and smarter like in some of the more recent movies, or would there be different types of zombies like in the Zombie Hunters webcomic?

"Have you completely lost your mind?" a voice said in a harsh whisper.

"Jack!" Miko exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to keep you from getting yourself killed."

"Oh, Come on… Zombies! Haven't you always wanted to see zombies?"

"No, Nobody WANTS to see zombies!"

"Oh come on! Zombies are the lowest of the monster classes," Miko said, "They are basically harmless as long as we don't do anything stupid."

"Right…" Jack said, "and when are zombies at their most dangerous?"

"Obviously, when there are a lot of them, and you are trapped in an enclosed area, Duh."

Jack smacked his forehead, "And exactly what conditions do you expect to find when you get off the elevator?"

"Ohhhh…" Miko finally realized what Jack was getting at, "An enclosed space with a lot of flesh eating zombies?"

"Maybe they just want brains, then you would be safe."

"Not funny Jack."

"Not trying to be, lets go back to the others."

"Come on, Jack! Ratchet and your mom need those blood samples from downstairs in order to fix things. Who is more likely to be able to get them, two small, quiet humans trying to hide from zombies or a giant robot that can't even fit through the doorway?"

"Ok, fine, let's go." Jack finally agreed, although Miko knew that he couldn't believe he was going along with her plan. Just like always.

They got into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground level.

"With a little luck, and if we don't make any noise, the zombies won't even know we were there," Miko said, then shuddered as the elevator made a large Ding sound just before the doors opened.

They were in luck, however, the hallway was empty, and there were no zombies around to hear the bell. Miko heaved a sigh of relief.

"Come on," Jack said and started pulling her by the arm down the hallway.

"Where are we going?" Miko asked, as he pulled her down the hallway.

They both tried to ignore the blood splatters on the floor and walls, and the occasional body part. The center part of the wing seemed to be empty, with the zombies focused on the exits, trying to get out to where the fresh food was.

"We are going to the lab where they take the blood samples," Jack said.

"How do you know where it is?"

"Mom use to take me to work with her sometimes, when I was little."

They passed by several rooms, each closed off by a curtain, but one or two were sealed off by a sliding glass door. Alarms and solid beeps sounded from each room, demanding attention for the lack of life signs from the rooms (former?) occupants.

"I heard something from this one, maybe someone is still alive?" Miko said, and pulled aside a near-by curtain.

What they saw inside was not a survivor. What they saw was a body that was struggling to get out of bed but hampered by bed straps and the fact that something had taken a few bites out of it, including the removal of some of it's limbs. Electrodes were still attached to the moving body, and the life support equipment showed a definite lack of life signs.

Miko heaved, spewing vomit on the floor.

"I don't think anyone is left alive in this wing," Jack whispered, keeping his eyes away from the horror show. He still placed a reassuring hand on Miko's back, "Lets get going."

Still nauseous, Miko nodded in agreement, and allowed Jack to guide her down the hallway.

As they moved away from the room, the body within it started to howl in a mindless futility that its food was getting away.

"Do you think the others heard that?" Miko asked.

The two of them started to hear shuffling sounds from down the hallway,

"Yes," Jack and Miko both answered Miko's question at the same time.

Jack grabbed her arm again, and the two of them ran as quickly as they could, then Miko slid as jack stopped suddenly and darted into another room.

"Close the door!" Jack whispered as he rushed over to a counter filled with vials and other equipment.

Miko closed the door, then turned the lock, and for good measure, started to look for something to brace the door with.

"Who were the first kids infected?" Jack asked.

"What?" Miko asked.

"Who's blood samples do we need to get?"

"ooooohhhh…" Miko said as she discovered another major hole in her plan.

"Uh-oh," Bulkhead said, but before the others could question what had caused him to say that, a man and woman rushed up to Bulkhead and were peering into his windows.

"She is not here!" The man said.

"Miko! Where are you?" the woman shouted.

June Darby climbed out of the back of Ratchet, "Hi, Im Nurse Darby. You must be Miko's host family?"

"Yes, where is she? Did something happen to her? Did HE hurt her?" he said, gesturing to Bulkhead. She knew they were referring to Bulkhead's driver, not realizing that he had none.

"No, Miko is fine, aren't you Miko?" June said, "Miko…? Jack, where are you?" She looked around, but there was no sign of the children.

"Bumblebee, find Miko and Jack," Ratchet commanded.

"Who else is in the ambulance?" the host parents asked.

"Just Raf and a doctor," June answered, blocking their view of the vehicles interior.

A series of whirrs an computerized sounds emitted from Ratchet and Bulkhead's radios.

Except for the silent Raf, the humans looked around in confusion at the sounds.

"You heard him, Bulkhead," Ratchet said, "the Zombies are on the move towards the only living things remaining in the Emergency wing."

"Oh well," Bulkhead answered, resulting in shocked stares from Miko's host parents.

June's cell phone rang, prompting a quick answer from June. "Jack, tell me you didn't."

"Ok, Mom," Jack answered over the phone, "What were the names of the first few infected patients?"

"Jack, is Miko with you?" She asked, "Her guardians are here, looking for her."

"Yeah, she is with me. We will be back out just as soon as we can, now what were those names?"

She told him the names, then "Now the both of you get out of there. Bee says that the infected are on the move."

"You know they are not alive, right, Mom? I mean, we saw one still hooked up to the machines, reading dead, but it was still trying to get up."

That was the one thing she did not really want to admit to herself. "Yes, I know. Don't let those zombie's get you."

June hung up the phone. "They are in the lab getting that blood sample you asked about."

"In the hospital?" The host dad asked.

"In the zombie filled quarantined section of the hospital," Ratchet answered.

"There is only one way in and out of that room," June said.

"And Bumblebee reported that the zombies are on the move towards the middle of the wing," Ratchet said, "They will be surrounded!"

"Miko!" Bulkhead shouted, transforming in front of everyone, tearing off on foot towards the Emergency Wing."

Miko's host parents nearly soiled themselves, as it was they fell down from the shock of seeing the vehicle transform into a giant robot and go running off, presumably to save the girl they had invited into their family for the school year. June thought she should offer up some support to soften the shock they had just endured, but the thought of shock sent her mind thinking in a different direction.

"Zombie's popping up across town, they may not have all made it to the hospital before the… change happened. I think I know what Raf must have witnessed to totally shut his mind down like this." She moved over and tried to give the boy a supportive hug.

Raf did not even seem to notice.

Miko's host dad gave his wife's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, before he ran off after Bulkhead. Miko was his responsibility. He would keep her safe.

"I knew both of these kids," Jack said, looking down at the vials of blood he held in his hands. "They went to our school."

Miko read the names over his shoulder, and became a little more somber. Some of the reality of the situation was finally bleeding through the excitement she was feeling of the extraordinary situation she was in, it was starting to feel real. Too real. It was true, she knew both kids, one of them was a drummer that she thought of recruiting into a band before she met Jack, Raf and Bulkhead.

"If something happens to us," Jack said, "Your parents will never know about it."

"I keep telling you, they are not my parents! Nothing about them is anything like a parents, they are just my host… uh, parents."

"I actually meant your real parents, but I bet your host family will be worried too."

The part Miko kept buried deep down threatened to bring tears to her eyes. "Yeah," she said, but then it was back to being all business, "We have what we came for, let's get out of here."

"Yeah, while we still can," Jack agreed.

Miko slowly opened the door, to peer down the hallway. "Shimata!" She screamed and tried to pull the door closed again, but it was too late. Undead zombies had already pushed their arms into the door to keep it fro closing."

Jack added his weight to hers to try to force the door closed. "Wait, what did you just say?"

"What? Scrap. I said Scrap! Fuck, do you really want to get onto me about swearing NOW?"

"No, I had just about forgotten that you were really Japanese!"

"This isn't working, come on, Jack, think of something!"

"Right," he said, looking around. "Closet on the far wall…"

"Go get it open," Miko said, "I'm not going to let them in just to discover that its locked when I get over to it."

As soon as Jack took his weight off the door, Miko regretted it. The force of the zombies slid her back an inch, forcing the door open that much further.

"Jack!"

"Its open, come on!"

Miko left the door and ran toward Jack's voice and the open door. Zombies literally fell into the room through the now unobstructed door.

She ran past him into the closet, Jack pulled the closet door closed behind them, sealing them into the space that was much smaller than it had seemed when the door had been open.

It didn't take the zombies long before the narrowed down where their prey had gone. They heard the unsettling sound of countless hands scratching at the other side of the closet door.

Miko felt somewhat reassured when Jack put his arms around her. She supposed that was his intent. The closet was too small, their bodies were pressed up against each other, and they both were holding tight to the door knob just in case one of the zombies remembered enough from his life to be able to use a doorknob.

Dying with Jack wouldn't be so bad. It would be so much cooler if it would have been with Bulkhead and the Autobots, but Jack was a close second.

Maybe it was the heat in the enclosed space with their bodies pressing up against each other, or maybe the smell of their sweat, or the thought of their imminent and gruesome demise… but she found her mind going to some unexpected places. She didn't have to worry about herself since she had met that adventuresome boy her parents didn't like a year before, but maybe if Jack didn't want to die a virgin, she could help him with that… a last parting gift from her just before they were ripped to shreds by hoards of undead.

"Jack… I," She started, but didn't get any further before it happened.

It sounded like a wrecking ball pounded through the wall. It wasn't just a wrecking ball sound, it was followed by… what could only be described as the sound of the largest game of whack-a-mole ever played.

The scratching sound was gone.

"Uhhh… Miko?" Miko heard Bulkhead's gruff voice lased with concern.

They pushed the closet door open, and found that the room was empty of zombies, but the floor and wall was smeared with a lot of blood. Bulkhead stood just inside the crumbling outside wall of the hospital, his hand/mace was dripping red goo. As soon as she noticed it, he quickly reconfigured the mace back into a hand.

"Bulkhead," Miko and Jack both said with a huge sense of relief.

"Yeah, lets hurry," Bulkhead said, his eyes fixed on the open door and a new wave of zombies that were beginning to come through it.

The floor was especially slick, Miko was secretly grateful that Jack was there to catch her when she slipped in the… she didn't want to think about what it was. Ketchup and sugar water! That was what the movies used, wasn't it? With pig entrails… she was about to heave again. She didn't want Bulkhead to see that. It was bad enough what she had done to his floor mats when they first met.

Finally the hospital was behind them and blood free grass was under their feet. Miko and Jack both immediately started using the grass to wipe the blood off the bottoms of their shoes. It was amazing how just having the grass under their feet made them feel safe.

"Miko! You are coming home with me, right now!"

Miko looked up, shocked to see her host dad standing there, daring her or even Bulkhead to say something about it. If anything he seemed more unsure of Jack than anything else standing there.

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking out for your wellbeing! I know enough about everything that is going on right now to know that it is not safe here. You are coming home."

"You are not my DAD!" Miko screamed, backing up towards the hospital.

"Uh, Miko," Bulkhead started to try and calm her down, "Maybe…"

"No!"

"MIKO!" Jack and her host dad both shouted at once. Why would Jack be taking sides? It was bad enough that Bulkhead was wussing out, and that her host family was even here at all, but… Something was moving in the bushes behind her.

She turned, her mind went into a state of shock as all she could see coming at her was a pair of milky white eyes and shiny white teeth opened wide to take a lethal bite out of her.

She felt the impact that sent her flying, not under a hungry zombie, but safely to the side. The pain filled scream that should have been hers was instead coming from her host dad as multiple zombies were busy tearing his flesh.

Jack grabbed Miko, and pulled her back, further away from the hospital and the gaping hole that was in the quarantined Emergency wing.

"NO!" Bulkhead shouted, slamming his fist down on the feeding zombies, turning them instantly into splatter and paste.

Bulkhead knelt down beside the dying man. "I—I'm sorry. I was suppose to protect her. I should have…"

"… r safe…" was all Miko could make out of her host father's dying words.

They were afraid of her, why did they even bother to come after her? To put himself at risk for her? They didn't care, neither did she. She wiped away a tear. Why was she crying? She didn't understand.

"You idiot!" Ratchet said, he stood behind them, next to him was June and Bumblebee who was gently cradling Raf. "You broke the quarantine!"

Zombies were quickly emptying out of the hole Bulkhead had made in the side of the hospital, and from there they were moving in all directions. Distant cries from police officers who were guarding the other exits indicated that the break in quarantine was now well known to the authorities.

"What do we do now?" June asked

"You are coming with us," Ratchet said.

"So is Miko's host mom!" Bulkhead said, "I owe him that much."

"And we are going to bridge back to base and report to Prime," Ratchet said, "Maybe we can still salvage something of this situation before it goes straight to the Pit."


	7. Arcee and Lowlight

Note: I still don't own Transformers or GI Joe or any of the characters, but if someone wants to give me any of it, I doubt I would refuse. Please feel free, or even encouraged to leave any reviews, anyway on with the story:

Chapter 7: Arcee and Low Light

The first day:

In the Autobot base a series of minor alerts went off to notify the Autobots of changes that would have been ignored if they had not been under a high alert. Each of the bunkers that had been erected around the town had begun to emit an unusual sound frequency that was apparently harmless to Cybertronians, if annoying.

"Bumblebee and Arcee," Optimus Prime said, "I want to scout these bunkers and the surrounding forces. Remain hidden, just observe and report. This may just be the start of something larger."

Arcee and Bumblebee each acknowledged the order, then waited until Ratchet threw the switch activating the groundbridge, depositing them into the empty plains that separated the town from the Cobra forces.

Bumblebee whirred and whined, then transformed into a yellow car.

"Yeah, that hum really is starting to get on my nerves," Arcee agreed, "Still, try to push it out of your mind while we try to figure out what the hum is supposed to be for." She transformed into her motorcycle mode and each of them zoomed off in separate directions.

An hour later, Arcee had not learned much more than when she had begun. In the past twenty four hours, this new group of humans had erected a chain link fence that completely surrounded the town, with roadblocks at each of the roads leading in and out. An impressive feat, but she wasn't sure just what they hoped to accomplish with it. Even a human child could manage to get over a simple fence like that, even one that was a good 8 feet tall.

Bumblebee started speaking to her franticly over the comunicator, talking so fast that she could only catch about half of what he was saying. "Ok, Bee, go. I'll inform Optimus," she replied, then sent her own signal back to their base. "Optimus Prime, Bumblebee just got a call, something has happened to Raf so Bumblebee went to check it out.

"Understood, Arcee. Continue your patrol."

"Are you sure? If something is going on in town, then I should check on Jack…"

"That will not be necessary. I will monitor the situation in town, and if Jack is at risk then he and Miko will be protected. Continue your patrol."

"Understood," she answered, but she still wished she were going into town on her own. Not that she didn't trust the others, but she would feel better if she was looking after Jack on her own.

A few hours later, Prime radioed her with an updated. "Something is going on in town, Arcee, I am sending Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Ratchet to the Human's hospital. On the way they will pick up Jack and Miko."

"Good, keep them safe, while I am stuck out here," she said. "Oh, how is Raf?"

"It is my hope that he will be fine, but what ails him is beyond our science."

"Got to sign off for now, Optimus. A human is close by."

"How are the hills?" Low Light said into his radio, it used a special scrambled frequency that, even if Cobra were listening, without descramblers, it would sound like regular radio static.

"Rock Vipers in the mountains, and more fence. Everywhere else the fence is patrolled by Cobra Troopers," Agent Helix radioed back.

"Right, for such an apparently major operation, it is a surprise they are relying so heavily on their lowest level troops. Hardly any Vipers, Crimson Guardsmen, or anything else."

"I noticed a few Hazard Vipers at some of the roadblocks," Helix pointed out.

"Roger."

"Any word from the others?"

"Nope, still enjoying their drive through the town, with an occasional homicide, apparently."

"Check back in with you at the next check in time."

Low Light continued to move across the landscape, making himself one with the darkness, hiding behind brush, and taking advantages of contours in the land that the average person would have mistaken as being flat. He moved into a position to give him a good view of another of Cobra's roadblocks.

He was mildly surprised to find a motorcycle parked in the same ideal hiding place he was using. It was a nice looking bike, although he wasn't sure he liked the purple color, still it did blend in fairly well to the black of night.

"What happened to your rider?" he whispered to it, while pulling out his sniper scope to take a closer look at the roadblock.

He studied the view through the scope, and continued to whisper to the abandoned vehicle, even though he knew it was foolish; that the sounds could give him away. Still, some part of him felt compelled. "Hazard Viper… step up from the old Toxic Vipers, Hiss Tank, ASP, Cobra Troopers. No Vipers, no specialized troops at all, except for the Hazard Viper. Still, it is a lot of fire power, but spread out as it is, it would only be effective against unarmed, and untrained. Even a small unit could break through… unless Cobra wants that and intends a flanking maneuver," he mused, "Uh, oh. Car coming."

Low Light covered the ends of his scope to prevent any chance of the lenses reflecting light and watched the car approach the roadblock with his naked eye.

The driver of the car was either foolish or stupid, he saw the roadblock and instead of slowing down and stopping (There was a chance that if he had not noticed anything out of the ordinary, the Troopers would just turn him around, and send him back into town) he accelerated and pulled off the road, making to go around the roadblock.

The Hiss tank opened fire, and the front of the car blew up, engulfing the rest of the automobile in flames. Other troopers left their positions in the roadblock and approached the flaming wreck. The sound and muzzle flashes of the Cobra machine guns told the Joe that there would be no survivors from that car accident.

The pointless death filled him with anger. He pulled out his sniper rifle, then calmed down and set both the gun and his anger aside. "Too many for just me," he whispered, trying to talk himself into his own decision, "I could get a few, even from here, but that would be enough for them to pinpoint my position, while a majority of them took cover." He looked back at the bike again, "Is that what happened to your rider?"

Some new units arrived at the roadblock, prompting Low Light to take the risk of pulling out his scope again to see exactly who and what had arrived.

"I didn't know Cobra had fire fighters," he whispered, as the new arrivals rushed over and extinguished the burning car. He continued to study the Cobra forces through his scope, until he saw something unsettling.

One of the Cobra Troopers was holding up a pair of binoculars to his eyes, Low Light could see the fire reflecting in their lenses, just as he knew that Cobra Trooper was seeing the same distant fire reflected in his own sniper scope.

"Shit!" he whispered to the bike, "Sorry beautiful. Got to run."

Immediately, he covered up the lenses again, and pulled out his sniper rifle, while stowing the case on his back. Then he ran.

He continued to stay low, and hug the contours of the land. Stay hidden as best he could, but he knew they would be coming for him now. Possibly in force, he just didn't know how much of a force. He could have taken an extra minute to kill the Trooper who had spotted him… It would have been a good idea to deprive Cobra of anyone with that kind of talent, but he didn't have the time.

He already heard the engines of an oncoming vehicle. No, not one, but two oncoming vehicles. Stuns based on the high pitch whine of the engines.

Low Light slid to a stop, turned and had the rifle raised before his feet had even quit sliding in the dirt.

One of the Stun drivers lined himself up in Low Light's sights. He pulled the trigger and continued to run.

He did not see how the suddenly dead co-driver destabilized the vehicle, nor did he see how the splatter from that man's brain distracted the other driver. The Stun flipped, and its remaining two drivers died when the ground decapitated them.

Low Light heard the crash, and the engine of the second Stun that was still coming for him. He knew he would not be able to work a second miracle, and that even now that second Stun was radioing in his location to more units, just in case he did manage the impossible.

His path was suddenly lit by a searchlight from the Stun. Worse yet, he was suddenly blinded by another spotlight from two Ferret ATVs that were quickly zeroing in on his position. He continued to run for his life, even as he began to accept that he was about to die.

He instinctively ducked his head, as the Stun opened fire on him. The shots went wide. They were just toying with him now.

He heard a new sound next, but did not take the time to turn his head to see what it was. If anything it sounded like one of the experimental guns Sci-Fi would use.

There was a explosion, followed by a fresh wave of heat against his back.

He fell, but kept moving, the time spent getting back on his feet afforded him a quick glance back at the remaining Stun, on fire. And another figure running towards him; had he time to think, Low Light would have wondered why that figure seemed to be armored, or unusually large.

"Get on!" a female voice shouted at him, and a new sound of running metal boots changed into the sound of a motorcycle engine.

Low Light jumped onto the back of the passing motorcycle, not realizing until he was already on it that the vehicle did not have a rider.

He tried to turn the bike away from the Ferret ATVs, but the bike had its own ideas, pulling a wheelie and riding between the oncoming Cobra vehicles.

The time it took the two Cobra Troopers to turn around, was all the time it took for Arcee to of driven Low Light halfway to town.

"What are you?" Low Light demanded.

"Names Arcee, and I'm saving your tail, so try to avoid calling me a what."

"Sorry. Call me Low Light, and let me off here."

Arcee did not comment that she was stopping to let him off in the middle of nowhere. She could understand that neither of them wanted any witnesses to their presence. They seemed to be in the same line of work, the question remained if they were on the same side or not.

The man had jumped off her and was on his feet just as soon as she slowed down enough for him to do so safely, and his gun was leveled at her.

When she transformed, and stood looking down at him with a slightly annoyed expression, he lowered his gun. He didn't think it would be enough to do more than scratch her paint anyway.

"I think we need to share notes on what the pit is going on around here," Arcee said.

"Um… Ok. You saved my life, and that counts for something," Low Light answered after weighing his options. "I'll tell you what I know, provided it's not classified."

"I can respect that. We all have our military secrets," Arcee said. "Speaking of which, I hope that you will consider the Autobots, such as myself to be one of those classified secrets."

"Sure. You are not to be general knowledge," Low Light said, "and neither are me and my team of Joes."

"Great, lets talk."


	8. Reports

Chapter 8: Reports

"Agent Fowler," Optimus Prime addressed the video image on the Autobot's computer screen. For once, the angry tone of Optimus' voice trumped that of Fowler, putting him ill at ease. "I have just had a discussion with a Classified source. You have not been honest with me. What does this Cobra faction know about us? And what is their connection to these zombies?"

"Wait, what? Zombies? Prime, you do know those monster movies on TV are not documentaries, don't you?" Fowler tried to change the subject.

"Do not treat me as a fool, Agent Fowler!"

"Truth is that a team was sent into Jasper, but no one has been able to establish contact with them, or anyone else in Jasper since last night."

"A we have detected an electromagnetic field across the town that would prevent human forms of electrical communication. What is this Cobra organization?"

"In a nutshell, Cobra is your basic terrorist/take over the world type of organization. To the best of my knowledge, Cobra has no knowledge of your existence. Now, what is this about zombies?"

"Ratchet, send Agent Fowler the video footage you compiled."

Ratchet moved in front of Prime, and inserted a data chip into the computer that immediately began to relay images that had been taken in Jasper to Fowler.

Fowler did not ask where the footage came from. Some of it he knew he didn't want to know. There was security camera footage from the Hospital that showed Zombie's attacking other patients, even Doctors and Police Officers. Other shots of zombies climbing out of a hole in the Hospital wall and zombies attacking Police officers outside the Hospital seemed to be from an Autobot's POV.

Fowler took a moment to process what he was seeing, then another when he started seeing the medical files being sent to him that confirmed that the people doing the attacking were indeed dead. "Ok, then. Zombies. I've seen some weird shit in my time, so Ill buy it. No way the rest of the Pentagon Brass will go along with it, but I believe you."

"The team you sent into Jasper is still operating, but unable to call out without assistance, "Prime said.

"Don't worry about them, those Joes will find away," Fowler said, then broke the connection.

Ratchet left Prime's side to attend to his human patients. Raf was still unchanged, curled up in a ball on a stretcher. Raff was being attended to by Jack and Nurse Darby. Ratchet's main concern was Miko's host mom.

The gruff old bot knelled down next to the woman, that Miko suddenly felt a strange sort of closeness with. He spoke to her with a bedside manner of soothing kindness that none of the humans believed him capable of. "Again, I am truly sorry for your loss," he said, "but Jasper isn't safe right now. Do you have any family you could stay with for a couple of days?"

Unable to speak, the blond woman nodded.

"Just say the word, and I will drive you there myself."

The woman tried to speak. To Miko it sounded like half sobbed jibberish, but Ratchet's hearing was apparently more sensitive. He consulted a computer atlas, and then punched a set of coordinates into the Groundbridge.

Ratchet transformed into his ambulance mode and waited for Miko to help her host mother inside him. "You could come too, Miko," he said, "It wouldn't be a bad idea for you to be someplace safe too.

Miko thought the death of her host dad, dying to protect her. The other deaths she had seen, and the walking dead that had been unleashed. It bothered her more than she would ever allow herself to admit to herself, but then she thought of all the mean things she had said to her host family since she had been in Nevada. The many times she had shut them out, refused to answer their calls. No, she didn't deserve them. "No, that's fine, Ratchet. It wouldn't be right. I should just stay here," she still couldn't summon her usual enthusiasm.

"Fine," Ratchet said.

Arcee threw the switch, activating the bridge, allowing Ratchet to drive through. About five minutes later, he returned without his human passenger. "Now that is over with, how are we going to deal with the problem at hand?"

"The local Police force is totally overwhelmed," was the assessment Specialist Trakker told Scarlett and the rest of his team in the back of the RHINO. "They have suffered heavy casualties already, and the zombie infestation that Lowlight has told us about has continued to grow. If we can contain this situation now, before it spreads, then there is a chance we can stop it with minimal loss of life."

"Cobra has got to be behind this somehow," Scarlett said, "Maybe they found some way to make their Toxic Zombies contagious or something?"

Snake Eyes shook his head, he was thinking that there had to be more to it than just that.

"There is not enough of us within the perimeter to put a stop to this," Agent Helix said.

"We need the rest of the Joes," Low Light agreed.

"We still cant get any calls or signals out of Jasper, so we will simply have to break the Cobra blockade surrounding the town," Trakker said, "And I have a plan."

Now far away from Jasper, Cobra Commander walked into Dr. Mindbender's lab. He wished he could have watched the carnage unfold closer, but that was a suicidal idea. Let Destro take those sorts of foolish risks. He had no idea what business the MARS arms dealer felt he needed to stay in Japer to conclude.

"Do you have anything new to report, Doctor Mindbender?" he asked, wondering if the insane bald man ever slept.

"Yes, I have made many advancements in the past 8 hours. And to think, if not for your vision, even I would have dismissed this line of research as pure fantasy, but with your vision and my own genius, we will create an unstoppable army that only we control!"

"Guide, Doctor," the Commander cautioned. "To believe one can control these undead creatures will only lead to destruction."

"Ah, but in two steps, I have perfected it!"

"Explain, Doctor Mindbender."

"First, I found that combining Compound Z with the Kobra Venom we were gifted by your… allies, the effectiveness of the compound is increased a thousand fold with new capabilities that I am only beginning to discover. I suspect it will make the subjects capable of spontaneous organic restructuring."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that they will be able to grow their limbs longer at will, and possibly heal themselves, or at least stop decomposition."

"And your second improvement?"

"The biggest drawback to these… Zombie Vipers is their loss of mind and thought. They become mindless. However by performing the same type of brain surgery that we apply to our Cyber Vipers, we can feed the Compound Z directly into the brain. As long as the Zombie Viper receives a constant flow of the compound directly into the brain through it's containment helmet, the Zombie Viper will retain all of its knowledge and combat training, but without the free will that limits so many other soldiers. But if they run out of the Compound, or remove the helmet, the Zombie will revert to being mindless eating machines."

"Both versions of your zombie process are useful to me, Doctor," Cobra Commander said, "Continue your developments."

"One other thing of note, Commander," Dr. Mindbender said, "The quarantine around Jasper, Nevada has not been breached but a couple of our border patrols were taken out early this morning."

"Ah, the Joes noticed much sooner than I expected they would. Well then, possible scenario outcome number 2 is off the table, but there are still three more victorious outcomes in play."

"If the Joes know, what should we do?"

"Nothing. Inform Wild Weasel; he is to evacuate all pilots away from Jasper, Nevada at once."

"Yes, Commander, I shall have Wild Weasel and his squadrons fly back to Cobra Island at once!"

"No, Doctor! They are to leave the planes behind, fully fueled and armed, the Joes may need them. I just want the pilots to evacuate. They are more expensive to replace."

"Uh… Yes, Commander." Doctor Mindbender rushed to obey, even though he did not understand the reasons why, but then the Cobra Commander played games that were too large for Dr. Mindbender to understand.

Dr. Mindbender was unaware of the many aspects and sub-plans that were just beginning in relation to what Cobra Commander thought of as World War Z… He would have to come up with a different name for it, that was already the name of a book and, soon, a movie. Time enough for names later.

The first test was, of course, in Jasper to see if how a zombie epidemic would really spread. Phase two, building fortifications, was also already in process, and would take a while. He would establish a series of safe havens, the first would be Cobra Island. Second would be a new country contained within walls that were currently being built to join Castle Destro with Castle Darklon. Another would be Griffin Rock after it had been given the "Springfield" process. There would be others, too.

He was also putting into place Operation China Syndrome, which would serve to fund the rest of the operations. Cobra Commander was looking forward to that one. It would begin just as soon as the first test run was concluded. Maybe using movie titles for his operations was becoming a theme?


	9. Silas

Armageddon Test Run 9

Chapter 9: Silas

The first day:

"Something is not right," Silas said to himself, or to the MECH soldier standing behind him, "Something is going on here, that is not yet revealed itself to us."

"Sir?" the loyal soldier said, "Three of our operatives have not yet reported in yet."

"Odd, any idea what happened to them?"

"No, sir. Josh was going to the diner for breakfast. Hank was spending the night with a local girl he met. No idea about Abe."

"That is not like Josh at all." Silas thought for a moment.

Looking out from the rooftop, he could see smoke rising from the direction of the hospital, and from one or two other isolated places in the direction of the suburbs. For all the smoke, he could hear sirens, but not enough of them. No, something was definitely out of place.

"Take me to that diner," Silas finally said.

"You are going personally, sir?"

"A good leader isn't effective unless he puts the fear of god into the troops every now and then," Silas replied, as he stormed through the warehouse that had been adapted into MECH's latest base. He barely spared a glance at the other MECH troops that busily worked on control consoles and data readouts, and his assistant had to hurry to keep up with him.

They climbed into one of MECH's black vans. At least his underling was smart enough to not use a diner that was right down the street. That would have made tracking him back to MECH HQ too easy.

While he drove he noticed, but did not stop for any of the people who were running down the street. Nor did he think to wonder why so many speeders were not being pursued by the few police cars he saw. There were many police cars and fire trucks busy moving from one side of the city to the other, but hardly any ambulances. Still, the sheer volume of emergency vehicles out at one time fed his unease that something big was going on.

When Silas pulled up to the diner, he found the outside of it deserted, which was not a total surprise. He stepped out of the van and surveyed the establishment with distain. The windows were not clean, the door was not shut, and he could see furniture had been haphazardly arranged inside, some of the few chairs that were inside the diner had fallen over and remained where they fell.

"Are you sure this is the place? It looks abandoned."

"This is where we went yesterday, but it didn't look this bad," the henchman said, "Look; I can see someone moving inside."

Silas steeled himself and pushed his way through the diner's doorway.

Inside the scene was even more disturbing. It was obvious that the diner had been the scene of a scuffle, or worse. Blood was spattered across the floor and some of the tables, and signs that someone had been dragged across the floor.

The diner was not empty, there was a patron shuffling listlessly at the far end of the diner, but Silas paid him no mind; he was not the man Silas had come to collect.

Silas maintained his steely exterior, even though he could sense his henchman growing unnerved by the scene before them.

The sound of three low flying helicopters dominated the Diner for the next several seconds. Silas knew they could mean something to his operation, but something about the entire situation, especially the diner was just night right.

He slowly walked towards the end of the diner, looking for Josh. He was also surprised that there was still no sign of the cook or a waitress.

A few steps in, he noticed a gun laying on the floor, just under a table. A MECH standard issue gun.

Silas quickly stepped around to get a better look into the booth.

Josh was splayed back against the seat, his vacant eyes and his pale, clammy skin and sharp shallow breathing was more than enough to tell Silas that the man was in deep shock. That the man was also injured was even more obvious, as his hand was holding a napkin drenched in blood up to his neck.

Silas' military training took over, as he immediately checked the wounded man's pulse; it was very weak. "This man needs medical attention!" He told his other subordinate.

He felt, rather than saw that his henchman was not moving. "Go get help!" Silas ordered, and tried to apply his own pressure to Josh's neck wound. If an ambulance didn't arrive soon, there was no way Josh would survive.

His henchman took a step but did not move, instead he gave an order of his own, as he un-holstered his own pistol. "Stay back!"

The listless man in the back of the diner had taken a sudden interest in Silas and his companions. Blood and unchewed bits of flesh dripped from his mouth, and his listless movements became more directed as the undead thing realized that more food had arrived.

The cook and a waitress emerged from the kitchen, their faces just as bloody as the patron in the back, except the waitress also had a series of bullet holes in her chest.

The henchman fired his gun at the man in back. He fell back, but seemed more surprised than anything as it stood back up to resume stalking the few still living things in the Diner.

With an inward pang of regret, Silas refocused his responsibilities towards his own survival. Josh quickly bled out when the old soldier released the pressure he was applying to the wounded man's neck to focus on the undead attackers.

As one, the patron, cook and waitress rushed the henchman, but he had no intention of going down without a fight. He emptied his pistol into them, and was throwing punches at them even as they tackled him to the floor.

Silas came to his henchman's aid, it was too easy, actually. The attackers seemed to be ignoring him in favor of the man standing in the aisle. With no distractions, it was a simple enough matter to level his gun at the head of the first zombie and open fire.

After three quick shots, Silas helped his henchman to his feet. The man had sustained several cuts and gashes from the fight, and would need medical attention. The MECH Medics should be able to help with that. He started to wonder if the odd things he had noticed in town meant similar things were happening all across the city.

"Damn it!" Silas shouted, as suddenly, the body of Josh was clawing and trying to take a good bite out of Silas' arm.

After a quick reload, the MECH henchman was able to return Silas' favor by shooting the now rabid Josh in the head.

"Let's get out of here!"

The two MECH operatives climbed back into their van and drove back to their warehouse headquarters. Along the way all of the oddities they had noticed on the way out took on new more sinister meanings.

"I need a Medic here!" Silas called as soon as he returned to the base.

Men with Medical gear rushed over to treat him and his wounded soldier much quicker than he would have expected. Then he began to notice that something was amiss.

The uniforms were wrong.

There were people wearing MECH uniforms, but they were all disarmed and cued up in lines around two helicopters that were parked in the center of the warehouse. The helicopters had COBRA markings, but most of the soldiers who were manning the MECH equipment wore MARS logos on their uniforms. "Iron Grenadiers," Silas whispered.

Silas shrugged off the medic attending him, and made his way to the Command Center. Surprisingly, no one made any move to stop him.

Another man stood in the center of the control room, looking very much the way Silas himself did when he was there. He stood proud, with his arms crossed behind his back, studying the screens before him with intense interest, but unlike Silas, this man's head was encased in a steel mask.

"You must be Destro," Silas said.

"Indeed," Destro said, with a slight accent, "It is so rare that we get to meet the competition like this, Mr…?"

"Call me Silas."

"Ah… Silas, of course," Destro said, sizing up the scarred man.

A Cobra Televiper rushed up to Destro and announced in hushed tones, "Downloads are complete, My Lord."

Turning his attention to his smart phone, Destro continued, "Just what have you been up to here? Giant reconfigurable robots? This would be a huge advantage over MARS' product line."

Silas smirked, "Autobots. Decepticons. Do you mean to tell me you really aren't already aware of them? I'm hardly going to let you take our data without working for it." His eyes and mind were busy searching for any way out, or at least a way to take Destro down with him.

Destro laughed, "Like you have a choice? It was decided for you hours ago! Most of your men have taken the new employment opportunities that MARS has offered them. The rest, were given an arguably generous retirement plan."

Silas noted the fresh bloodstains on the floor.

"As for you…" Destro glanced at the medic standing just inside the doorway. The medic shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry. I, or even Cobra could have used a man with our talents, but I am afraid you are already infected, and we are leaving."

Out of nowhere, Hazard Vipers surrounded Silas, and he was forced to watch as Destro and his men, loaded every person and byte of data into the Helicopters and prepared to leave.

When the Helicopter's engines were going full force, even Silas' guards disappeared. Silas proudly strode over to the window of Destro's helicopter.

"What are you going to do with me?" He demanded.

Fingering his pistol, Destro replied, "Do you want me to show you mercy?"

"I have no need for your… mercy," Silas sneared.

"Then I shall do nothing to you, and let this thing run its course."

Slowly the Helicopter taxied out of the warehouse and lifted off into the sky, all the while Silas shouted at it, "You think this is over? You haven't seen the last of me! Not by a long shot!"

"No," Destro said, more to himself than to Silas, "I very much believe that I have seen the last of you."

The helicopters were gone, so were all of MECH's and Cobra's men, only Silas and his lone henchman remained in the warehouse with all of the MECH equipment that was too bulky for Destro to take with him.

His henchman looked close to death, and for some reason, Silas was starting to feel sick too. Very sick. He allowed himself to fall into a chair.

Still, he was just a little sick, and distressed over the setback MECH had just underwent. He would rebuild. After all, his near death henchman was already doing better.

He had already gotten back up on his feet and was coming over to Silas now…


	10. Sierra

Chapter 10:

The Last Day of School

The First Day:

Sierra took the bus to school that day. She was supposed to of gotten a ride from Vince, but he had not returned home the previous night. His parents were really worried, but the Police had not seemed very interested in looking for him. If anything they seemed distracted by other things.

Speaking of distracting, she had felt uneasy and fearful all night. The feeling continued now that she was at school, to the point that she had to watch herself or she would snap angrily at people.

Speaking of people, the hallways were only half as full as they should have been with students getting ready for class. From what she was hearing the teachers say, not all of the bus drivers made it in to work that day, and even then, a few of the buses had not yet returned from their morning pickups. A few of the teachers had also failed to come into work.

If that alone didn't make this the weirdest day of school, the look of the four people who entered the front door did. There was a blond man wearing mostly black, with red goggles on his toboggan and a long case on his back, beside him were two women, a red head wearing what looked like a military grade leotard, and a woman with white and black streaked hair wearing a black corset and green cargo pants. The two women made no attempt to hide the guns they were carrying, but Sierra figured they must be okay since they were being escorted into the building by a police officer who was wearing a stained and tattered uniform and looked like he had not gotten any sleep all night.

"You two go set up in the Nurse's office, while I check in with the Principal," the red headed lady said.

The blond man and other woman both nodded and came over to Sierra, while the red head continued to follow the Policeman.

"Hey, Kid," the blond man said to Sierra, "Can you show us the Nurse's office?"

"Yeah," Sierra answered and began showing them down the hallways. The Nurse's office wasn't that far from the Principal's office, so they wound up staying fairly close to the policeman and the redhead.

Both groups of people were holding their own conversations, and neither of them were talking to Sierra, so she picked up bits and pieces of each conversation, neither making any sense to her.

"Apparently someone thought one of the infected was a drunk and put him in the tank with a bunch of other winos. Things got worse from there. The whole damn police station is now overrun."

"Don't worry, we've sent two of our agents beyond the communications black out to bring back help."

"We are going to need it. Things are getting out of hand fast. We have people patrolling the streets in their cars telling people to stay in their homes, but you know they aren't going to listen!"

"I swear to you, they were thirty feet tall, at least!"

"Sure they were. Are you sure your report is accurate, and you didn't just watch Shawn of the Dead?"

"You saw the videos I brought."

"And are you including the 30 foot tall robots in the official report?"

"Hell no!"

"Because its crazy, right?"

"No, because I told them I wouldn't. Besides, are YOU going to be in the official report?"

"Hell no."

"There you go."

"Here is the Nurse's office," Sierra interrupted, the blond and zebra haired woman.

"Thanks," the blond man said.

"Why don't you come in with us… uh?" The woman asked.

"Sierra," Sierra answered, following the two into the nurse's office.

"Great," the woman answered, "You can call me Agent Helix, and this is Low Light. Scarlett will be back with us shortly."

"Have you received any cuts or bites in the last 24 hours?" Helix asked the girl.

"No," Sierra answered, that and about a dozen other questions while the blond, Low Light, searched the office.

Agent Helix had Sierra roll up her sleeves and checked the girl for any injuries. "She's clean," Helix finally pronounced.

"Holey shit!" Low Light said. He pulled out the only thing that was hanging in the closet, it was a red uniform jacket with silver buttons and a silver Cobra outline on the front. "We may have found the starting point of the… incident."

"Did anything unusual happen in the Nurse's office yesterday, that you are aware of?" Helix asked the girl.

Sierra shrugged, "A few students were called to the office for some sort of vaccination. I didn't get one."

"I will wager that none of the students who did are here today," Agent Helix mused.

"You mean, they started with the children?" Low Light said. "That is sick!"

"What else do you expect from Cobra?" Helix shook her head. "Sierra, would you mind acting as our nurse?"

Sierra shrugged again, "I guess. What's going on?"

"There is an infection going on out there. We want to fortify this school to use as a base of operations, but in order to do that, we need to check everyone inside to make sure none of them have been infected."

"What kind of infection? Is it airborne?"

"No, it is transferred by body fluid, which is why I checked you for cuts."

"So, its like, an STD?"

"Uh… not exactly."

"I know I'm just a nurse and I'm not suppose to understand it," June Darby said while looking at the blood close ups on one of Ratchet's computers, "But I just don't understand it. I mean, after all those years of medical school, I have never seen anything that looks even close to this."

"I know," Ratchet agreed. I look at it, but its all just… Biology to me, and makes no sense. You have been up all night, Nurse Darby. Maybe it would help if you got some sleep."

"That's just it, Doctor, its NOT Biology. No biology that I have ever seen before," she gestured again at the enlarged image of the virus they suspected was the cause of the zombie infection. The only unidentifiable element in the blood samples recovered from the hospital emergency wing. "Maybe its alien."

"Why not," Blukhead interjected, "Everything else seems to pop up on this planet."

"Considering what we now know about this planet," Optimus Prime added, "It is little surprise that this world seems to attract evil from faraway places."

"Its hardly from another world," Ratchet scoffed, "Its chemical makeup clearly ties it to this planet. Still…"

"What is it you see, old friend?" Optimus Prime asked.

"I must be blind!" Ratchet exclaimed, "I was so blinded by the fact that it was organic biology that I didn't see that it isn't constructed like biology—"

"That is what I have been saying," June said.

"No," Ratchet agreed, "Its constructed like cyber-biology! It has more in common with a Scraplett's nanocondria than it does any Earth virus!"

"Are you saying this plague is Cybertronian in origin?" Optimus asked, fearful that he may have inadvertently brought yet another doom upon humanity.

"Not at all! What I am saying is that someone constructed this as an organic machine using properties similar to our own cybertronian cyber-biology. That is why Dark Energon could have had a influence in its creation."

"Could you use our Cybertronian technology to manufacture a cure for this plague?" Optimus Prime asked.

Ratchet looked startled by the suggestion. "No. That level of nano-reconstruction would require someone with a different skill set than mine… maybe Perceptor, or Jhiaxus but even then there is no guarantee that anything we construct using our own technology would have any effect on something created using organic components."

"Hey, guys," Miko interrupted, "You know we are all missing school here, right?"

"No school today, not with everything that's going on out there," June said.

"Yeah, but what about all the people who did go to school," Jack asked. "For that matter, what about all the people in the town who are at risk from these zombies?"

"So what?" Bulkhead said, "That's no concern of ours. If there are no Cons involved, I see no reason for us to get involved."

"But we could help them," Jack insisted, "We need to protect as many people as we can."

"It's not like the humans are helpless," Arcee said, "They are sending their own team in to help too."

"Bulkhead is right," Optimus Prime said, "This is not our war… but Jack is also correct. This is our home, and we must protect it, and its people. Ratchet, ready the ground bridge."

Sierra helped, the Joes by acting more as a receptionist and secretary than anything else. She would page the people to be checked, and the Joes would inspect them for injuries or illness. Those who could possibly have been infected were quarantined in locked classrooms.

It took several hours, but the entire population of the school was checked, with only a handful needing to be quarantined, of those only half turned out to of been infected.

"Thanks for your help, Sierra" Scarlett said, then turned to her companions when they joined her in the school infirmary. "How is the outside looking?"

"Could be better," Agent Helix said, she had spent the past couple of hours outside with the sleep deprived policeman, while Scarlett and Low Light inspected the students and staff.

"We positioned the buses and available cars into a partial barricade," the police officer added. "What will happen next?"

"Soon parents will come to pick up their children. The ones who want to stay, can and we will add their cars to the barricade, the ones who insist on leaving…"

"They can take their chances," Helix finished. "What about the infected in quarantine?"

"We keep them contained," Scarlett said.

"Have you heard the noises they have been making?" Low Light said, "Its just a matter of time before they break down a door or window. Besides, they died already."

"But…" Scarlett started.

"Ill take care of it," Helix said.

"Do it quietly," Low Light said.

"Right," Scarlett agreed. "Gunfire would alarm the children."


	11. Escape

Armageddon Test Run 11

Chapter 11:

Escape

Dawn of the first day:

"Now you are good with the plan?" Specialist Trakker asked Snake Eyes for the fifth time.

Snake Eyes responded with a thumbs up sign, and threw the switch that extended the Rhino's grill into battering ram mode.

Trakker sighed and pulled on his Mask. He had long wanted to test the Rhino against a couple of HISS tanks in battle, and was disappointed that now it was actually going to happen, he wouldn't be behind the steering wheel.

He had no illusions that Snake Eyes would be able to get through the Cobra perimeter around Jasper Nevada alone, but to assure that Trakker could get across too, they needed a distraction.

Snake Eyes and the Rhino drove off towards the Cobra roadblock, he was lowering the stack lasers into position as he drove. At the same time, Trakkker headed towards the fence at a solid pace, his Mask providing him with an accurate view of the terrain and keeping him appraised of all the nearest Cobra patrols.

Trakkker found a nice spot of cover, not too far from the fence, but not so close that he would be easily spotted by Cobra patrols either. There he waited.

The signal came, loud and clear. He could see the fireball erupting from the direction of the roadblock, and the distant echo of explosions and machine gun fire.

He continued to wait, but he didn't have to wait long. Within seconds his position was passed by three different Cobra patrols on their way to reinforce the roadblock. Cobra was taking containment very seriously.

With the patrols out of the way, Trakker was free to make his own way over the fence. They had considered simply cutting it, but there was every reason to believe that continued containment of Jasper would be in everyone's best interests, so they wanted to keep the fence intact. Best to go over it.

Trakker's Mask, named Spectrum had a sonic hang glider mode, which was very useful when jumping from his flying T-bird, but not much use while on the ground. That was the reason for the green backpack he brought along, that he thought of as a mini-Condor. It was equipped with helicopter blades, that were rather impractical by themselves, but when combined with the Spectrum Glider, resulted in an effective method of flight.

The backpack was not as silent as he would have liked, but within seconds he was flying over the fence and moving towards the rendezvous coordinates he and Snake Eyes had previously agreed upon.

Once he landed, Trakker again took cover and waited.

His patience was again rewarded when Snake Eyes drove up in the ATV made up from the Rhino's trailer hitch section. He smiled with satisfaction under his Mask, then climbed on behind Snake Eyes, and the two of them made rapid progress to drive beyond Cobra's jamming range to get a signal to the rest of the GI Joe team.

Shortly before noon, Wild Weasel felt naked wearing blue jeans and a T-Shirt, instead of his red flight suit and face concealing helmet. He expected the rest of his Cobra pilots felt the same as they boarded buses, with their duffel bags.

He nodded to the bus driver, Zandar, he thought the guy's name was, then took his seat. He was respected/feared enough by his compatriots in Cobra that none of the others tried to crowd him.

"All aboard!" Zandar shouted, then closed the door to the bus and started driving down the road, leaving the Cobra perimeter and Jasper, Nevada far behind. "Next stop: Civilization!"

Wild Weasel was a little disappointed to be leaving. He had been looking forward to firebombing the town. It wasn't every day that you got to level an unblemished, modern, American town. Oh, it would have been such fun!

Zandar blew the bus horn several times, and Wild Weasel could see why. The Dreadnok was showing off, and no one would ever know it.

The bus was passing a convoy of military transport trucks, but not just any military trucks: GI Joes!

Wild Weasel even recognized some of the faces of the people sitting in the trucks with their machine guns between their legs from the Cobra mission briefings he had received.

Zandar continued to blow his horn.

Why not get in the spirit of things, Wild Weasel thought. He pulled down his window, and stuck his head out.

"U! S! A!" He shouted, "U! S! A! WHOO-HOOO!" Wild Weasel felt like a happy idiot while doing it, but it was sure fun! Besides, the next time he was likely to see any of those Joes again, he would be raining hot death from above on them.

The GI Joe convoy arrived in response to Specialist Trakker's signal. They still did not know the full story about what was going on within the Cobra quarantined city of Jasper, but they felt they knew enough to move in.

The convoy stopped before they were within sight of the Cobra roadblock, and broke up into their combat units. When they approached the roadblocks, they would be ready to blitz the Cobra positions and put a quick end to the situation.

Duke rode in the lead Vamp, as they finally approached the Cobra roadblock. He studied their position through his binoculars, even as a Cobra Officer was studying him through theirs.

Then Cobra did the unexpected.

The Cobra Officer left his position and walked slowly towards the Joe's position, and in his hand he hoisted a white flag.

Duke narrowed his eyes in suspicion, and motioned Clutch to drive him closer.

Clutch closed the distance between the Joes and the lone Cobra Officer, then stopped, allowing Duke to walk the final few feet alone.

"SIR!" The Cobra Officer saluted smartly.

Duke returned the salute in spite of himself, "I am Sergeant Duke, of the GI Joe team," he said, "Would you like to save us both time, effort, and lives and surrender now?"

"Yes, Sir," The Officer answered, "I am authorized to surrender all local forces and equipment to you, under a single condition!"

"What condition?"

"That you maintain the quarantine, Sir!" the Officer replied, "That you allow no infected people to leave the perimeter!"

"Very well," Duke finally said after thinking the situation over, "Stand down and surrender yourselves into our custody and we will maintain the quarantine."

The Officer nodded curtly, then turned and signaled the rest of the troops at the roadblock. The troopers there seemed to visibly relax.

Duke began to concider the logistics of the undertaking he had just agreed to, arresting all of the Cobra personnel, while at the same time replacing them with Joe personnel to maintain the perimeter around Jasper. That would tie up a bulk of his forces for at least a day, if not longer. If Cobra was just trying to buy time for their experiment to run its course, they certainly found a creative way of doing so.


	12. Border Patrol

Armageddon Test Run 12

Chapter 12:

Boarder Patrol

The first day:

It was a different experience for Jack. Not just that he was riding within Optimus Prime, but the state of the entire city. Jack did feel calmer since Prime had indicated that the subsonic sound had been stopped; so at least the military was doing something, but they had yet to move into the city, and Jack couldn't help but to wonder why not. They were certainly needed.

The city itself was oddly strange. They passed through some blocks, and everything was normal, people walking the streets, shopping, eating hot dogs on the side walk while they went to lunch before returning to work, but then there were other blocks where the city seemed… dead.

"Raf's home is up ahead," Prime told Jack as they drove down one of the more disturbing streets. The street was empty. Cars sat abandoned with their doors still open. The houses were all dark, but a few of them were open, their blood stained doors swinging freely in the wind.

Raf's house was hard to miss, it was the only one that had a robot made hole in the side of it; it was also one of the homes with an open blood stained door.

"I don't see any signs of life around here," Jack said.

"Agreed," Optimus said, deliberately not mentioning the human leg he saw sticking out from behind a car. He did not know if the leg was attached to the rest of its body, but his heat sensors indicated that the owner of the leg was dead.

Duke approached the door to the first of the Terrordrones, and waited until Tripwire gave him the Ok.

"No booby traps, go on in," Tripwire finally said.

Behind him, Flint said, "With a little luck, maybe they left us a nice firebat in there."

Duke nodded, but thought to himself, "There is no way we are this lucky."

He gently pushed the door open. "Those fucking bastards!" Duke shouted.

The Terrordrone had been completely gutted. The outer walls and the roof were intact, and apparently whatever apparatus it was that created the subsonic fear vibrations, but everything else was obviously gone. Duke could see clear from one side to the outer wall on the far side, and in between, Cobras had set up row upon row of cots, and had basic weapon racks set up along one wall where extra weapons and ammo was being kept.

"We just cant seem to catch a break," Flint agreed.

"Tripwire," Duke said, "I want you to go over every bit of equipment Cobra left behind. I want to know exactly what is useable, and what is just for show. And above all, what is safe for us to move."

Gradually along the Cobra quarantine line, Steel Brigade members, under the guidance of higher level Joes were placing the Cobra troops under arrest, and replacing them with "Greenshirts."

Falcon and Flash were guiding the operation along the eastern fence, when shouting alerted them to a quickly growing problem.

"Stop where you are! Stop where you are or I will open fire!"

"Drop the gun! Gun Down, NOW!"

Rushing to the scene of the shouts, Falcon spotted a sweating Cobra soldier with his rifle leveled beyond the fence, shouting at some approaching civilians, and two Steel Brigade members with their rifles leveled at the Cobra.

The panicked look in the Cobra's eyes indicated that he was still trying to decide if the approaching civilians his Cobra orders required him to keep away was a greater threat than the Steel Brigade members who were pointing their rifles at him before arresting him.

What the hell is going on to have the Cobras so spooked by civies? Falcon wondered. Either way, this situation needed to be diffused fast. If he were Beach Head, he would simply shoot the cobra and be done with it, but there was a better way.

"Stand down, everyone!" Falcon shouted, his voice carrying the full authority of an Officer that resulted in both the Cobra and Steel Brigade backing down, but not to the point that they lowered their weapons.

"Flash, assume the Cobra sentries position, so that he can finish surrendering to us," Falcon said.

Flash took up a firing position next to the Cobra and leveled his machine gun at the approaching civilians, although it was plain that he missed the laser rifle he normally carried.

The Cobra handed over his gun and surrendered. The Steel Brigade members were not gentle as they took him to the ground and applied handcuffs.

Meanwhile, it was Flash who took up the shouting, "I said, Stop where you are, and get on the ground! If you do not stop, I will open fire!"

Falcon blinked in surprise when Flash really did open fire, kicking up dust in front of the approaching civilians.

The civilians, a family of two adults and a child, continued to advance through the dust.

"If they are infected, nothing short of a head shot will stop them," the Cobra said from the ground. His helpful advice was rewarded by a kick from the nearest Steel Brigade.

"They are not stopping," Flash observed.

The wrong move here could easily result in a real PR shit storm, and court-martials all around. Falcon took a deep breath and still could not believe what he heard himself saying. "Take out a leg."

The approaching adult male fell, while the other two continued on, oblivious to their companion's plight. Even that was temporary, as the man stood back up and resumed his progress with the same ambling pace as before.

"Wound the girl."

Flash fired, and the woman went down. Falcon winced, it just didn't seem right to scar a woman's breasts.

"They are infected!" The panicked Cobra screamed from the ground, "Don't let them get to us!"

Falcon took another deep breath. "Take them out."

"But they are civilians!"

"For the greater good, take them out, or give me the gun."

Flash fired again and the three went back down, for about second. "Fuck," he said.

"Headshots, Flash"

The gun fired three more times, then the civilians fell once more, and did not get back up.

"Duke, send a medic to my position," Falcon said into his radio, "I have some possibly infected bodies here to be examined."

Lifeline was dispatched to Falcons position, because Duke had already sent Duke and Airtight as part of a small team of Joes on ahead into town.


	13. Comming appart

Chapter 13: Coming apart

Author's Note: I just noticed that the dividers that I place between scene changes are edited out by the system. Very annoying. I also introduced a few new plot points in this chapter, but I am not sure if I am going to follow up on them or not.

Afternoon of the first day:

"Did you encounter anything on your way here?" Scarlett asked the newest arrivals to the school that had become their beachhead and headquarters.

Doc, Shockwave, Law and Rock'n'Roll looked at each other, then nodded at Scarlett. "We lost one of the two Steel Brigade troopers we brought with us while trying to stop a scuffle," Doc said.

"Have you figured it out for your selves then," Scarlett asked, "that we are facing an honest to goodness movie zombie epidemic here?"

"We figured it out," Shockwave said, "We still don't really believe it, but we know it anyway."

"Don't worry, no one got bit… except for the casualty," Doc said.

The sleep deprived police officer came into the room the Joes were using for their reunion, "I have that map you wanted." He spread the map out across the table. "Did any of you guys happen to see a kid driving around in a big truck? I may be going a bit crazy."

"Just got here, sorry," Law said.

"Just show us the current situation on the map," Scarlett said, "then get some rest."

The police officer outlined the known zombie hot zones, specifically around the hospital, the police station, and a few smaller circles around different suburb developments.

Later, while trying to piece together the entire scenario of what had happened, Scarlett would later realize that the center of the circles in each of the suburbs would match with the home address of a list of kids she found in the school nurse's office, beside a Crimson Guardsman uniform.

"This is so frustrating!" Shockwave shouted hours later, after finally taking stock of the full situation, "We could salvage this situation, if we just had more men! We could contain then and sweep each area for survivors!"

"Duke won't be here with any reinforcements until tomorrow," Scarlett said.

"Fighting creatures that don't need light to see, and don't give off heat signatures," Low Light said, "Not something I want to face at night."

"Where is Law?" Shockwave asked.

"He is helping the settle in the latest batch of civilians. Police patrols are spreading the word that we are fortifying this position, so the refugees are coming here. Dock is checking them over, before we admit them, and put them to work helping with fortifications."

"It's remarkable," Ratchet said, speaking to himself.

"What is, Doctor?" June Darby asked.

"The rate at which the zombies are reproducing. In each area, the number will remain constant for a while, then jump up. Truly a fascinating phenomenon."

"Are you running a program to track the theoretical growth of the zombie plague?" June asked.

"What..? No, I tweaked the sensors we use to track energon and dark energon deposits to track the dark energon like elements in the zombie infection. I thought I mentioned that we would be able to do that back at the hospital?"

"So, you have a way of tracking the zombies right now… is it transportable?"

"Of course; now that I know the base settings for the scan, I can perform the same task on a smaller scale with my internal systems."

"Smaller scale? How smaller?"

"Well, our base computer is limited to just being able to scan the planet. My internal systems would be limited to an area about the size of the city."

"Great! Transform, Doctor; we are going into town! Come on, Raf, put your coat on, you are coming with us."

"Oh no, we are not! What could be served by placing ourselves, especially you and Raf, at greater risk?"

"Prime and the others are busy patrolling the city, doing their part to help. You can do no less. Prime also reported that the school is being fortified by the military. They need the information you can provide."

"I still see no reason to get involved in what is, essentially, a human problem."

"Didn't you already have this discussion with Prime? What would he say, given the situation, and the lives that are at risk? The lives that are being lost even as we speak?"

"Fine," Ratchet said, then transformed, and waited for June and Raf to climb aboard. "Ill radio Arcee to return to base to man the ground bridge controls. You never know when we may need it."

Cobra Commander took the long walk down into the secret Cobra Prison that very few even knew existed. It was a pity, the Commander mused, the architect who had designed it had been such a genus, it was a pity that they had to kill him in order to preserve the secret of the prison's existence.

At the heart of the prison was Prisoner number 1. The most dangerous person the Commander allowed to live. One day he would kill him, but until them, the prisoner continued to prove useful.

Along the way, the Commander stopped to look in on Prisoner 2. Back in 2000, the Joes had made their boldest move ever, with an attempt to replace the Baroness with a look alike spy. The ploy had not worked for long, and while Destro was distracted by freeing the real Baroness, the Commander had arranged for the spy, Chameleon to disappear into his secret prison.

Interrogator had broken the woman, completely, long ago. She had spilled every fact and figure she thought she knew, and had even given up trying to commit suicide. She was just a shell… nothing but meat. Today she was suspended, naked, from the ceiling, her filth was coating the floor. At least she wasn't wallowing in it as she had been on previous visits. Sometimes he would use her to pleasure himself, but not today; today he was in the prison on business.

Prisoner 1 looked up as the Cobra Commander stood before his transparent door.

"Have you come to torture me again? Or do you want another game of holographic chess? Or I could beat you in a nice game of GO… or would Chutes and Ladders be more your speed?" the prisoner said, defiantly.

"Ah, Serpentor," Cobra Commander said, "your sense of humor is most delightful, as always. I have a lot going on, right now, but next time I visit, I promise you we will have that game of Go."

"You have started it, haven't you?" Serpentor said, "Your insane zombie utopia you discussed with me before?"

"Yes… your input into that plan has proven most helpful. I just did a small test run in a small town. It is still unfolding, but so far the results look good."

"You cannot possibly understand the forces you are trying to unleash!"

Cobra Commander laughed. "I haven't heard that cliché in ages! You are the only one who is not afraid to speak to me openly. I value our new relationship."

"You truly are insane."

"Once the exercise has concluded… Shouldn't take more than two or three days, I have a lot of arrangements to make. The funny thing is that the Joes don't yet realize that I have already won the day! I won yesterday when the first zombie became infected."

"You don't care if you destroy the world?"

"What does it matter as long as Cobra controls what is left?" The Cobra Commander turned and walked out the way he came, passing the Crimson Guardsmen who stood out of the way in the corners to keep guard over Cobra's most dangerous prisoners.

One of those Crimson Guards glared at the Commander as he passed by with hate filled eyes, the evil look he gave the Commander hidden by the face concealing facemask.

Once the Commander had left, the other guards visibly relaxed. None of the Prisoners were going anywhere. Thanks to the lack of human consideration, few of them even were even capable of moving any more.

The guard walked across the hallway, and slid a copy of the Keycard the Commander had just used through the door's food tray. "If you escape," the guard whispered, "My associates will aid you."

"Why do you aid me?" Serpentor asked.

"So you can deliver the following message," the CG said, "Blood for the Baron."

"What the-? They can't be serious!" Law said when he saw the Ambulance pull up in front of the school.

Rifle raised, Shockwave rushed towards the Ambulance, "Stop the truck now!"

The ambulance stopped, and Doc rushed up along with a couple of policemen. A woman climbed out of the ambulance, "We are not infected!" The woman said, "I brought equipment that can help!"

"There is a kid in the back," someone said.

"Where is the one called Low Light?" another voice shouted.

A shadow on top of the school building stood up, holding a sniper rifle in one hand, "Here."

Low Light recognized the woman with the ambulance. She was with the Autobots when he and Arcee traded information. The Autobots had tried to keep her and the other humans there hidden in the dark corners of their base, but Low Light had always been good at seeing in the dark. If she was with them, then there was an excellent chance that there was more to the ambulance than meets the eye. "Check them out; get them inside as soon as possible.


	14. Second Day

Armageddon test run 15

Chapter 14:

The Second Day

Whoever it was continued to scratch and knock at the front door, keeping the man awake. His wife could sleep through anything, it seemed. No doubt it had something to do with whatever strange thing had been happening in town yesterday. Nobody seemed to have any real news about it.

The rumors were that the military was setting up a safe zone at the school… what sort of safe zone, or safe from what, no one was saying.

The clock on the bed stand read 3 in the morning. Way too early for anyone to be up, let alone banging on the door. It had better be important.

He groggily made his way down the stairs, and shouted once he came close to the door. "Stop it, I'm coming!"

Annoyingly, the banging on the door increased, and became even more demanding.

He yanked open the door, prepared to give whoever wanted to interrupt his sleep a piece of his mind, and had a split second to curse himself for not looking out the peep hole first.

The things that lunged at him through the open doorway looked like they had once been some of his neighbors, but now there eyes seemed glassy and blank, their expressions vacant, and tainted with blood smears around their mouths and down their shirts or chests.

He looked down to see a child biting his groin, while others were pulling at his arms, and his hair. He felt stabbing pain as they bit into him.

He fell to the ground, the things fell with him, pinning him down, continuing to bite and tear at his flesh. Others stepped past him, moving aimlessly through the house. One even began to find its way up the stairs towards the upstairs bedrooms.

He wanted to shout a warning, but realized he was already screaming… and soon he heard more screams coming from other rooms of his home.

Ooooo

The Autobots were not as idle as the humans assumed them to be. To most of the Joes they were just vehicles sitting outside as part of the barricade to keep the zombies out, but in reality, so much more was going on.

Ratchet and Prime monitored everything using their built in sensors from the school… they watched as the zombie's numbers continued to grow. Prime felt a sense of misplaced responsibility for each life he knew was being snuffed out.

Prime had sent Bulkhead back to the base, while their human allies slept with the rest of the humans in the school gym.

With Bulkhead to run the groundbridge, Prime dispatched Arcee and Bumblebee to continue to patrol the city. With most of the town's populace either asleep or barricaded in their homes the two Autobots felt free to assume a more aggressive attitude towards the undead, and assumed robot mode to thin the growing zombie hordes.

Crouching in the middle of the street, Arcee had deployed both of her guns and was firing two handed at the approaching zombies. Bumblebee took up a position next to her, and opened fire with is own double barreled weapon.

Bumblebee whirred something to Arcee.

"I know, standard tactics aren't working. They are suppose to run or flee. The ones we hit are just getting back up. If anything we are only attracting more of them!"

Bumblebee whirred, clicked and beeped a longer response.

"Right, we are just expending energon at this rate," Arcee reluctantly agreed, then activated her radio, "Bulk—Open the ground bridge, we are coming back in."

Ooooo

Only Low Light noticed the departure and return of Bulkhead and Bumblebee to the School. As far as anyone else was concerned, they were ordinary vehicles who had never left.

Scarlett, Shockwave and the other Joes were awake before the sun rose, it was debatable if Low Light had slept at all, from his lookout post on top of the school. The Joes met around the ambulance, waking June Darby in the process.

"Huh? What do you guys want?" June asked as she opened the back of Ratchet.

"We came to get an updated scan of the city," Scarlett answered.

As June opened the doors and allowed the Joes inside, Ratchet spoke, "Its gotten a lot worse over the past few hours."

He again displayed the holographic map of the town. The down town areas were void of nearly all life signs except for a few red dots that represented a zombie signal. In the suburbs, the red dots had nearly doubled since the evening before. Ratchet made sure to send the information to the Semi parked next to him, Optimus Prime.

"We should have argued harder for Hawk to go ahead and send more troops into the city. The Cobra surrender could have waited, for all the lives we lost by waiting so long," Shockwave said.

"At this rate of expansion of the plague, it is going to be very difficult to put down, much less rescue the uninfected," Scarlett said.

"It is spreading too fast. We should take out the buses with armed escorts, and use them to round up as many survivors as we can. Bring them here until extraction."

"Hell, this entire operation is going to be so classified!"

"We only have enough guns to send out two buses, and still maintain a presence here, but not much defense."

"We Autobots will lend you our military support," the red truck said.

"Optimus?" Ratchet asked."

"This crisis is too large for them to handle alone, Rachet. And the situation is far from natural."

"It is a plan then," Scarlett said, "I'll call Hawk and update him on the situation. Find out when we can expect those reinforcements."

Ooooo

"It's hard to believe," Jack said, while riding in Prime's cab, "as bad as things were yesterday, there were still areas of the city that were unaffected. But today, there are signs of zombies everywhere we look."

"I should have left you back at the school," Prime said, "This is too dangerous."

"Don't worry about that," Jack said, "with everything going on, my Mom feels safer knowing I'm with you."

Prime slowed to a stop, and the school bus pulled to a stop behind him, and Shockwave climbed out.

"House numbers 203, and 207 are filled with infected," Prime said, "205 has survivors."

"And the other side of the street?"

"Those houses are empty."

"Great."

"Uh, Prime?" Jack said while craning his head out the window.

"I know, Jack," Prime answered, "that group of infected we a while back are still following us. Shockwave has spotted them too."

"I noticed he was not being as polite to the survivors anymore; but if they keep following us, then this whole operation could be a big mistake."

"Indeed, we may need to call in reinforcements."

"Aside from Wheeljack, who else can we call? Surely the Decepticons won't feel inclined to help."

"We are staying ahead of them for now," Prime said, "But if they get close enough to be a threat, I will have to intervene."

"I got'em loaded," Shockwave shouted, "Lets get to the next street."

Ooooo

It was still before noon, when Prime and Shockwave returned to the school with a bus filled with refugees. The plan was to unload the bus, then head back out again.

"Hear anything from Hawk?" Shockwave asked Scarlett when she and Doc came out to greet them and check the new arrivals for any sign of infection.

"The orders are that the elimination of the infected will not be an issue, but the evacuation of all uninfected is mandatory. Duke is sending in more troops to assist, and Wild Bill is organizing an air evacuation."

"Great," Shockwave said, "Guess we will head back out then."

While they were talking another car pulled up, and two confused people climbed out of the car, "We have heard this is a safe haven?"

"That's right," Doc told them, "Come on inside and we will make sure you are all right. Leave the car keys, we will need to move your car shortly."

They all instinctively ducked, when a shot rang out.

"They are starting to become more frequent," Low Light called from his post.

None of the humans present were able to read the expressions on Optimus Prime's truck mode; if they had they would have seen the worry. Always in his mind, he was trying to stay four steps ahead of any given situation, and the situation was beginning to look worse than any of the humans had yet realized.


	15. Interlude

Chapter 15: Interlude

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or properties being used in this fanfic.

General Hawk was doing his best to monitor the situation in Jasper Nevada from the Rolling Operations Command Center, taking reports by phone and video monitors that were tied into the various Joe posts, and a few that were tied into traffic, and other cameras that were scattered throughout Jasper. Something that was much easier now that Duke and Flint had turned off the Cobra jamming of the area.

Still all of his contact with Scarlett and the team inside the city was strictly via telephone; he hung up the phone after getting the latest report.

"I don't believe it," Hawk said to Long Range, "My alpha team is operating based on intel they are getting from an alien ambulance."

"Whatever works," Long Range answered. "If you want a few more eyes in there, I do have a couple of UAVs onboard for an aerial view."

"Do it."

Long Range disappeared into the back of the ROCC for a few minutes, then came back to report, "We now have two unmanned aerial drones in the air."

OoOoO

Along the fence surrounding Jasper, GI Joe troopers waved at the three UAV drones that flew past them overhead towards the quarantined city.

The first drone veered to the right, while the second one veered to the left, each of them with its own section of the city to scan and photograph. The third drone lagged behind and gradually flew lower and lower. When it was about twenty feet above the ground, it transformed into the Decepticon known as Soundwave.

oOoOo

Megatron received the communication from the loyal Soundwave. There was no audio, only a series of visuals, with Cybertronain writing scrolling across the bottom of the screen faster than the human eye could follow. The image on the screen showed two humans nailed to the ground, their skin flayed open, and an assortment of internal organs scattered neatly on the ground. One of them was clearly dead, the other should have been just as dead, but was still trying to move its arms and legs.

"I see…" Megatron said, "So the dark energon trace was false… and whatever caused it has similar effects on organic life. I have no interest in human affairs, return to base."

A fresh set of writing appeared across the screen.

"Very well, Soundwave," Megatron said, "Satisfy your curiosity. Just be sure to log all of your findings when you return. You are correct… one never knows what may turn out to be useful."

OoOoO

"Welcome to Griffin Rock, Mr. Powell."

"Why, thank you," the taller man with the handlebar mustache said, "It is certainly different from Detroit. You must be Doctor Isaac Sumdac."

"Yes I am," the shorter pudgy man said, his mustache was much smaller than Powell's. "I have often wondered how my life would have been different if I had set up shop in Detroit instead of Griffin Rock."

"I'm sure you would have done wonders, everything I have seen shows you are a true mechanical genius."

"I have sold the city a few trash bots and a few other things, but I'm afraid my accomplishments are overshadowed by resident super genius, Doctor Greene."

"Doctor Greene, huh? What do you know about him?"

"Well, he turned down a job offer from me. There are a few rumors that he use to live at Eureka, before he changed his name, cloned a daughter and came here. Others insist hes the guy from Reading Rainbow."

"So who built those Rescue Bots? You?"

"No, actually, I'm not sure just who built those for the Burns family."

"That's who we want to hire for Sumdac Industries! I see big things for us, Dr. Sumdac. Big things!"

"I was surprised that I was able to hire you away from Extensive Enterprises. I know the money I'm offering can't compare to what Extensive Enterprises can offer."

Mr. Powell smiled, "There is more to life than just money. I see great potential for Sumdac Industries, we can dominate the robotics industry. Who knows, once Sumdac Industries is big enough to go toe to toe with Stark Industries or Lex Corp, then we may be able to pay us more than Extensive Enterprises ever did."

"I don't know if you are just being optimistic, but I do like your vision of the future," Sumdac said. "I have a lot of projects you may find interesting back at the lab, particularly an Android that I am working on called Sumdac's Artificially Real Intelligence. I believe that S.A.R.I. could be a real game changer in the world of robotics!"

The two men left the airport, already discussing their business plans for the future. What Sumdac, Dr. Greene, or the Burns family did not know was that the arrival of Crimson Guardsman Powell was the first step in Cobra's plan to remake Griffin Rock into a new version of Springfield.


	16. Calm

Chapter 16

The basic Transformer finds the practice and process of human reproduction to be strange and disgusting. Few humans have even thought to ask about Cybertronian reproduction, but those who have typically find the processes excessively varied, barbaric, and disgusting.

One process is that a body or protoform is constructed, and then instilled with life and programming by the legendary computer Vector Sigma; with this rare process the new Transformer is literally born as an adult, although naive and lacking in life experiences.

In addition to Vector Sigma, the All-Spark is also widely known to be able to instill life into any machine. However, if the All Spark energy is unfocused the resulting life is perceived as wild and barbaric, while in fact the creatures are too immature to realize their weapons cause pain, and they are just trying to have fun.

Others are born when a Transformer, or pair of Transformers generate excess spark energy which then is segmented off into a protoform body that splits off its birth parent like cellular division. These transformers are born with full sparks, but begin as childlike until they mature into adults.

Some Protoforms manage to obtain body forms before they obtain sparks, resulting in Transectors. Transsectors can either be used as hosts for Minicon scaled transformers, or they can feed off the energy of other creatures, like humans until they develop sparks of their own.

The more common method of Transformer development involves the mass production of Protoforms. When they start out, they do not have full sparks, and generally each generation will be given the same forms. These new transformers, such as Megatron's Vehicons, barely count as alive. They are used as attack drones and cannon fodder, but if one is lucky enough, they will experience enough situations so that over a few thousand years they develop their own sparks, seek modifications to make them as unique as the personality that develops as they grow.

The group of Autobots, known as Rescue Bots, had grown in this way; they were well further along in their personal development than the Vehicons were, but in Transformer terms they were still children when compared to the young adult equivalent Bumblebee. That was one of the reasons Optimus Prime secreted them away to Griffin Rock. The other reason was that, due to a navigational error, the group of Autobots had been in stasis for the complete duration of the war. He wanted them to continue to grow and develop naturally, without the scars that the war had imposed on himself and every other Autobot he knew. Prime knew he would not be able to keep them from the war forever, but he would try.

The current situation, however, was more than his small team of Autobot warriors could handle alone, and with no Decepticons in the area, it was the perfect situation for a squad of Rescue Bots to help.

"Arcee," Prime radioed the base, "Open the groundbridge to the coordinates I gave you."

Within moments a swirling vortex of green and blue energy opened, and four more Autobots step through.

"Glad to finally meet you in person, Optimus Prime!" The leader of the Rescue Bots said, he was a tall, red robot.

"Likewise, Heatwave, however I fear that time is short, and we will have to postpone such pleasantries."

"Yes, Sir." Heatwave said as he and his team came to attention.

"Air evacuations will be carried out on the ball field, here behind the school. Bolder, you will construct trenches and fortifications around the school, especially the rear lot. Time is of the essence, so get going."

"Sir," the green robot said, then transformed into a green bulldozer, and began driving to the corner of the lot where he would begin his work.

"Chase, I want you to assist the police as they continue to patrol the city to bring survivors here."

"Do we need to maintain our cover during this operation?" Chase asked.

"Not necessarily; remain in vehicle mode for now. Transform into your robotic modes only if the situation requires it. Blades, you are to assist in airlifting the survivors out of the city. Heatwave, you will remain here. Use your water cannons to defend the school and the people gathered here from the menace that is threatening it."

"What sort of menace are we talking about, sir?" Blades asked.

"The human population here is being attacked by their own dead who have been artificially resurrected. If any of these undead 'zombies' come into contact with living humans, they attack with lethal force, that also results in the attacked human being resurrected into a zombie. Do you understand your assignments?"

Heatwave took a nanosecond to glance at his team, "Yes sir, we are ready for action."

O0o0o0

Miko walked Raf down the school hallway, until she found a small room with a couple of seats. She sat Raf down.

She sat next to him, and stared at his non-responsive eyes. So many times she had neglected or completely forgotten about him. She suddenly felt sad that she knew so little about him, and even more helpless that she could think of nothing to help him.

Another girl came to the door and stared at him. "Raf?" The girl said. When there was no response she turned to Miko, "What happened to him?"

Miko repressed her initial urge to rebuff the intruder who was not part of their own little group, but then, maybe Raf had more friends than he realized. "Not sure. I think he saw something really bad."

"Is it okay if I sit with him?"

"Sure," she said, surrendering her seat. "Ill be back in a little bit, will you be okay with him until then?"

"The other girl nodded, and Miko left the room.

oO0o0O

A group of Joes walked down the main road into Jasper, escorting an APC. Clutch was driving, with Duke sitting next to him, with Rock and Roll and Jinx standing up in the APC behind them. Walking along side were a small assortment of Troopers and Steel Brigades. They wanted to keep it a small team, to save as much room as possible in the APC for civilians. Duke wanted to see how the situation had developed overnight for himself before sending in the bulk of their forces.

So far, they had not seen anyone. Clutch had one of the troopers knock on one of the house doors, but even then there had been no response. There were reddish stains on the road, but not many cars. Duke wondered if they had make a tragic mistake in waiting so long before making their way into the city.

Finally, they spotted a lone figure walking down the road.

"Hey, excuse me, sir?" one of the GI Joe troopers called to him.

There was no verbal response, but he started to walk towards them.

Finally, Duke and the rest of the team could make out the tell tale details of the walking dead man's appearance. "Ah, hell," Duke said, a thought echoed by a few others at the same time. He turned to the trooper who had called out, "Drop him."

The trooper nodded, and raised his rifle. He fired.

The zombie sagged back, but continued to advance.

"Head shots!" Rock and Roll instructed, while he began pulling out his own heavy machine gun.

The trooper fired again. Missed. Again, and the zombie went down.

"I think they may be attracted to sounds, sir." One of the Steel Brigade said.

"Why do you say that, soldier?" Duke asked.

The soldier pointed. More zombies were approaching from around the street corners, and then off to the sides they spotted more zombies coming from between the houses.

"Open fire!"

Rock and Roll let loose with a hail of bullets, while he didn't go for the head shots he advocated, his machine gun fire did succeed in cutting a few of the zombies in half. Of course they still tried to crawl after them.

As expected, the Steel Brigade members were better shots than the troopers, but they were still not use to delivering repeated headshots. Despite their heavy gunfire, the growing horde of zombies continued to advance on them.

"How many of these things can there be?" Clutch asked.

"Worse case scenario? What is the total population of the city?" Duke answered, quickly realizing how tenuous their situation currently was. "Everyone, get in the APC!"

The gunfire stopped, as Jinx, Duke and Rock and Roll helped the troopers and Steel Brigade members up into the APC. As soon as the last one was aboard, Duke gave an order he never would have believed he would say. "Get us out of here, back to the Terrordrone!"

Clutch nodded, and floored the gas pedal. The APC ran over a couple of the zombie's as it turned back the way it came. Even after the APC was lost in the distance, the zombies continued to follow the direction the APC had taken.

"Duke," Jinx sat on the side of the APC next to Duke, "I'm going to go on into town to deliver the mail. Be back later!"

Before Duke could turn or even think, she had rolled over the side of the APC.

He turned to look for her, but with her ninja training, she had apparently vanished into the suburbs, intending to make her way to the school. "How can somebody who wears bright red disappear so quickly?" he again asked himself.

0oOo0

Jack wasn't sure he wasn't being more of a help than a burden by going out on the rescue patrols with Optimus and the rest. The last mission they ran it came to the point where Optimus Prime instructed him to get into the bus with the others, while Prime transformed and physically opened a pathway through a wall of approaching zombies. It had just gone to prove that Jack's help wasn't needed. At all.

Still, he supposed it did help when he satisfied the refugee's questions about the giant robot by explaining that Prime was a military version of the prototype rescue robots being used in Griffin Rock. Maybe it just helped the others to see another human being acting calmly in an insane situation… that is a human being who was not carrying and shooting a gun.

Those were some of the thoughts going through Jack's head as he aimlessly wandered through the hallways at the school in between missions. Before he knew it, he was standing before his old locker, spinning the dial on the combination lock and looking at a collection of school books that he had forgotten to take home. Didn't seem to matter much anymore. He wondered where Miko had gotten to, and figured he had better check on her and Raf.

"Jack?" Siera said.

"Sierra?" Jack said, startled. "I'm glad to see you are here. How have you been?" Jack winced at the stupid question. It was a zombie apocalypse, and he asked how she was? The only proper answer to that question was "Life is pretty shitty, but at least I am alive."

Instead tears swelled in her eyes and she embraced him in a hug. Everything she said came out in a rush, "Vince has been missing for two days, and my Mom was suppose to pick me up from school yesterday, but she didn't and now I can't reach her or dad on the phone or anybody, and Im just scared and don't know what to do. And I'm glad to see you alive, but I know you don't care about me, so I really shouldn't be bothering you, but I can't keep from crying."

Jack gently wrapped his arms around her, ignoring the stares the two of them were getting from men and women who were passing them in the hallway. Any day the world ended, Jack figured, was a freebie for people having emotional outpourings.

"Look… I do care about you. A lot. I just always had a lot of stuff going on in my life that I couldn't talk about. Everything is going to be okay, Sierra, really. We are safe here in the school, with the army and… others out there to protect us. They are going to work together to get us out of here, to someplace safe."

"But this is Jasper… small and safe, nothing ever happens here!"

"I think that may be why it did happen here," Jack wondered if he should tell her that it was not a freak of nature that things were happening, that it was deliberately caused, but he didn't. Other people may not take the news in a rational manner, and they all needed to remain calm to survive.

A series of gunshots rang out; the sound that Jack now instantly associated with Low Light's sniper rifle. Sierra's grip on him tightened with each bang.

"Do they have to keep shooting like that?" Sierra asked.

"Yeah, actually," Jack replied. "It may be loud, but I think they really do need to." He did not mention the increasingly frequent appearances of Zombies moving towards the school. "Tell you what, if you give me your address, I will ask one of the outgoing patrols to swing by and look for them."

"Thank you Jack," she hugged him even tighter, then leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then she took a couple of embarrassed steps back.

0oOo0

Naturally, Low Light was the first to notice Jinx's arrival. Mostly because she wanted to be seen, walking down the center of the street. He was relieved to see that she appeared to be alive and unharmed.

He used the walkie-talkie next to him to notify the others.

"Glad to see you, Jinx," Doc said, he was the first to meet her outside the entrance of the school.

"Doc," She returned the greeting," Where are the others?"

"Inside, you will get to meet with them just as soon as I finish examining you."

"But I'm fine."

"No exceptions, just be glad you don't get the armed guards we had to use for the last one who came in off the street."

She followed him into a small classroom, where he had her strip down. After verifying she had no injuries, he gave her a clean bill of health and admitted her into the rest of the building.

Most of the people she passed in the hallway, didn't spare her a second look, except at the red jumpsuit she was wearing. Scarlett greeted her, when she finally found her.

"Our mutual friend wanted you to have this," Jinx said, handing Scarlett a package.

Scarlett unwrapped it to discover her spare crossbow, and a fresh quiver of bolts. "He always seems to know what is needed. Glad to have you here, what happened to the others?"

"They were unable to get past the zombies, but the airlifts are still a go. They will be airlifted to one of the Terrordrones, rechecked by more doctors we are flying in, and then they will be relocated. Hawk is still trying to decide on a suitable cover story."

"In the long run, a cover story may be counterproductive, but we will need to begin the airlifts quickly."

"I have something for Low Light too, is he still on the roof?"

Scarlett nodded, and Jinx disappeared into the crowd.

On the roof, Jinx set a box and a fresh magazine down on the ground beside the prone Low Light. "Fresh ammunition for you, and a 5 hour energy."

"Thanks," he replied. "I don't want to think about how close I was to running out… of ammunition."

0oOo0

"I know it may be out of the way, but could you at least look into it?" Jack asked Optimus Prime, who was now standing in robot mode in front of the school. The area was devoid of civilians, it was only the Joes, Autobots and the bus drivers.

"We have already been through this neighborhood, Jack. I'm sorry, but we found no living people on that street," Prime said, then seeing the downcast look on Jack's face, "However, Chase's team will be in the area, I will have him run another scan of the house in question. It is possible that the girl's parents have taken shelter in one of the downtown buildings. Our readings show a great many people are trapped in those buildings. We cannot get to them now, but we will when we can."

"Thanks Prime."

"Stay here, keep the others calm. The situation here is about to get worse," Prime stepped back from Jack and addressed the others. "I have spoken with Scarlett, and we agree. This will be the last run we make to pick up survivors, so complete your assigned routes, and return as quickly as possible. Once this run is complete, we will focus on defense. Let's roll out!"

Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Ratchet and Chase each started driving away from the school with a school bus following close behind. Each bus had a driver and either a Joe or a pair of policemen along to support, and do the legwork .

0oOo0

Jack found Miko in the office talking with the woman who introduced herself as Jinx. They were talking Japanese when Jack came up, but switched back to English for his benefit. Apparently Miko was expressing an interest in joining GI Joe. Would joining be a problem since Miko was Japanese?

Despite Jinx's Japanese heritage, she was from LA, but her answer did surprise Jack.

"It shouldn't be a problem. GI Joe is an international Action Force, after all."

Miko and Jinx's conversation was frequently interrupted by telephone calls, that Jinx was handling so Scarlett could go on patrol with one of the buses.

The phone rang again, "Jinx here… All I can tell you is that Scarlett and the others are pretty dead set that the airlifts must start in two hours. It doesn't matter if you can get one chopper or twenty, it must start in two hours, just as soon as the next patrol gets back to the school." There were many things that Jinx didn't understand about the situation… second among them was why Hawk was having such a hard time gathering more than a couple of helicopters.

None of them knew the subtle favors and machinations the Cobra Commander had put into play to tie up or disable as many military helicopters and transport planes in the area as he could. Red tape was one of the Cobra Commanders greatest allies.

Once she hung up the phone, Jinx voiced her other biggest question, "Why does it have to be in two hours? I don't know, they didn't tell me."

"I'll tell you," Jack said, drawing the immediate attention of both Jinx and Jack. "Zombies are slow, but they are steady trackers, following noises and cars for as long as it takes. We have been sending out patrols to find people and bring them all here for nearly two days now… Those same patrols are also serving to direct zombies away from here, but at the same time, the zombies are still following the patrols along the full routes, which will lead them… all of them, here. Low Light has been picking off the early arrivals, but even so the sound of his gunshots is only attracting more. In less than two hours, Prime figures there may well be more zombies converging here than they can handle."

"Um," Miko said, "Don't you think you should call him back?"

Oo0oO

At Ratchet's insistence, Shockwave kicked in the door to a house he was sure was abandoned or worse, but he was coming to trust the ambulance's judgment.

He heard noises within the home, including the sound of crying. He turned the corner, his pistol drawn.

A zombie in a bloody white dress shirt came at him from down a hallway.

He fired twice, and zombie went down, brains splattering on the wall.

The sound of crying was coming from upstairs.

Making his way carefully through the house, making sure nothing could sneak up behind him, Shockwave located the stairs. A zombie woman wearing a green shirt was at the top of the stairs, but fell down the stairs landing at Shockwave's feet when she tried to walk down them.

He put two more bullets in the back of the former woman's skull, then continued up the stairs.

All the bedrooms were empty, but the door to the one at the end of the hallway was firmly closed, although the zombies had obviously scratched and clawed at it, trying to get inside.

Another well placed kick, and the door flew open revealing a sparkling white and pink nursery. The crying was coming from an unhappy baby laying in the crib.

Picking up the child carefully, Shockwave quickly made his way back to the bus to entrust the baby with one of the other survivors.

oO0Oo

"Raf is fine Jack… sheesh, stop acting like a mother!" Miko called after Jack while leading him to where she had left Raf.

"Leaving him with someone else is fine, but we need to check up on them from time to time."

"This way…"

The door to the room Miko had left Raf in was open, and Raf was still sitting there in the chair just the way she had left him, and sitting in her chair was the girl who had offered to sit with him. But that was not all.

The small closet sized room was full of people, sitting or standing in a semicircle around Raf.

They were talking to and about him, expressing various degrees of concern or suggesting methods of treatment.

Miko wasn't sure how much of it Raf was aware of, but she hoped it registered on at least some level.

"I didn't know Raf had this many friends," Jack said.

"I don't think he did either," Miko said.

O0oO0

"Help me! Please Help me."

Chase immediately transformed to robot mode to aid the human, but Scarlett called out, "Stay there, Ill get them."

"Very well, I will remain on guard for more zombies."

Scarlett climbed out of the bus and ran to the source of the cries. It was a young child, about thirteen years old, with shoulder length hair and wearing blue genes and a green football jersey. At a glance Scarlett could not tell if the child was a girl or a boy, but what she could tell was that the child was injured. Worse than that, there was no doubt in her mind that the child was infected.

The child's entire side was covered with blood, and he/she was holding her apparently useless left arm tight against his/her body with his/her right. The child collapsed into Scarlett's arms as soon as she reached the child.

"I was so scared, I didn't think there was anyone left," the child said. "They… they tried to eat me! I almost didn't get away. They got—"the child's eyes widened at some unspoken memory. "Mary and Jeff—Oh god, I'm the only one left!"

As the child surrendered to tears, the right hand fell away, and blood started gushing from a deep wound on the left arm.

"Keep—keep pressure on your wound," Scarlett said, at the same time knowing it would not make a difference. Even if she could get the child to Doc before the blood loss proved fatal, they had no cure for the zombie infection the child was obviously carrying.

"I'm cold," the child said through labored breathing.

"Don't worry," Scarlett said, "You are with me now, I won't let anyone else harm you." She hugged the child close to her, her eyes spying all the vulnerable spots on the neck and base of the head her martial arts training had taught her about. All of that knowledge she knew she would never actually need to know, while her free hand pulled a bolt from the quiver on her hip.

Scarlett did her best to make the child's death quick and painless. A second later she was done, and she placed the bloody bolt on the child's chest as she lay the small body on the ground; her eyes were closed tight, trying to keep the tears inside.

Agent Helix exited the last house she was checking on the street, and quickly accessed the situation. "I could have done that for you," she said, an unexpected softness touching her normally hard voice.

"I have to do some of the sins myself," Scarlett whispered, wiping away tears. The short sentence really didn't convey the complexity of the thoughts behind them. How could she ask Agent Helix to do something she wouldn't do herself? But now she wondered how could she or helix live with themselves after all the things they had been forced to do.

"It's never easy, Scarlett," Agent Helix said, "I just don't let it show." She gave the red head a moment to compose herself, then all compassion had again left her tone, "Come on, people, we have a tight schedule to keep!"


	17. The Stand

Authors Note: I still own none of the properties being used or referred to in this fanfiction. I predict another two chapters after this one, before this story is done.

Chapter 17: The Stand

Optimus Prime viewed the battle on many levels, but he focused on the tactical. Between the Autobots and the armed humans, all approaches to the school were covered, and positioned so as not to get in each others way when shooting.

The biggest issues were beyond his control, specifically the number and speed of the approaching zombie horde. It was possible that the overwhelming firepower the defenders were able to put out would be enough to completely eradicate the horde, or the zombie menace could be greater than the available ammunition, or the more likely possibility was that the zombie horde would advance faster than their rate of fire, slowly pushing them back until they were overrun. If that was the case, then every effort would be made to hold out until the evacuation was complete.

Low Light abandoned his post on the school roof, as Optimus Prime was blocking his line of sight, and joined the other Joes, police and a few armed civilians in the street.

Despite Prime and Scarlett's urgings, and common sense, a peanut gallery had formed behind the fireing line of students and other curious civilians who were eager to get a peek at the action. Miko was at the center of this group.

The gunfire was steady, but the sounds of gunfire were drowned out by the sound of low flying tomahawk helicopters that were flying overhead.

"Remember, Autobots. Our foes are already dead; our standard combat protocols do not apply. Open fire with full power, and make every shot count.

Miko was use to seeing the Autobots in action, but this fight was different, their actions were far more measured, their blasts far more powerful. When fighting Mech, the Autobots would frequently miss, and their hits would throw their targets back against a wall. Here, each shot struck a zombie dead on.

Bulkhead took aim at a zombie with his blaster, the energon plasma bolt instantly enveloped the zombie, and evaporated in a greenish blue ball of energy. A glowing ghost outline of the zombie's skeleton remained for a fraction of a second after the rest of the body had disappeared.

Miko felt a new sense of respect, and possibly fear, for the powerful weaponry her robotic friends could wield.

Oo0oo

Inside the now mostly empty school, Doc was even busier than usual. Since he had learned that a number of infected people had died while in quarantine at the school, he had been performing one autopsy after another.

He wheeled in the next body, this one was a small boy who had been bitten on the leg, and Nurse Darby helped him move the body onto the makeshift autopsy table. While he had been gone, June Darby had also cleaned and arranged his surgical tools and had everything ready for him to begin.

He had not expected to see her again after she had given him the medical data her son and a girl named Miko had recovered from the hospital before it had been overrun by zombies. He was also impressed that she was so calm despite the sounds of gunfire outside.

Doc made the Y-incision and again started to remove and examine the organs, making notes as he went. Whenever he needed a new tool, Nurse Darby was already ready to hand it to him.

"Even without the tissue reanimation, this virus just doesn't act like a normal virus," Doc said.

"That's because it isn't," Nurse Darby said.

"What do you mean?"

June Darby grabbed a laptop computer they had found in the school's computer lab, and opened a close up of the Virus that Ratchet had provided.

"It spreads like a virus, but they are really nano-machines constructed out of organic materials. The RNA that commands the nano-machine in its operations is additionally effective because it has been mutated with radiation from Dark Energon," Darby explained, relaying information about it that she didn't even realize she knew, much less understand. Ratchet would have been proud, although he may not have been willing to admit it. "Energon is the energy all Transformers use to live and for their weapons. It reacts negatively with organic life… but trust me, Dark Energon is far worse."

"It could be Cobra-La based technology. You sure have a good grasp on this subject," Doc said, as the two of them resumed the autopsy.

"Oh, not really. Doctor Ratchet is the real expert, although he doesn't really understand the organic aspects."

"You under estimate yourself. Tell me, have you ever considered enlisting?"

"I… Uh… I don't know, I really haven't—"

"Well you should think about it. We could use someone like you, and I'm afraid a lot of people here are going to need new jobs after this."

"Mom?" Jack said, poking his head in the door. He saw what they were working on, and visibly paled.

Doc enjoyed a grin at Jack's expense.

"Yes, honey? What is it?"

"Uh… the helicopters are starting to arrive."

"Good. I want you, Raf and Miko on the first flight out of here."

"Mom! No! You know I'm not going to just leave you and the others. Not with everything that's happening."

June looked over at Doc, who kept his expression neutral.

She sighed from exasperation, "Fine, but you make sure Raf gets on the first flight out, and you will not wait until the last flight to get yourself out of here!"

"Will do, Mom."

"Quite a kid," Doc says, "I can tell how he takes after you."

0OoO0

"There has got to be a way that I can help," Blades said to the face of a young blond haired boy on his communicator screen. "I can only carry two people at a time."

"Well, you can carry things," the boy, Cody answered, "I haven't seen a school yet that didn't have trailers out back for extra classrooms. You could fill one of them up with people, and then carry that."

"Yes," Blades spotted one of the blue trailers, "But it would not be very safe for people inside without something firm to hold on to."

"Could you install some bus seats inside them?"

"Maybe or I could just transport people in a bus!"

"You don't mean driving it, do you?"

"No! I was going to fly it… wait, do you think I could just drive it?"

Further conversation was drowned out by the arrival of the GI Joe Tomahawk helicopter, accompanied by two regular army Blackhawk helicopters.

Before the helicopters even touched down, a mass of people were already running from the rear school exits towards the ball field where the helicopters were landing.

"Please proceed in a calm and orderly fashion," Blades loudly announced.

Even the most panicked of the group felt the need to obey the giant robot as he was carrying a school bus.

The pilot known as Lift Ticket just stared at the robot as he approached and knelt down, "Do you have some cable I could borrow?"

His mouth still hanging open, Lift Ticket nodded.

"This is just the first trip. We will be back once we unload, and a second wave will be here even sooner. Everyone will be extracted," Airborne said as he pulled out the spool of cable for Blades.

Jack managed to force himself to the front of the mass around the helicopters. He was doing his best to carry Raff with his right arm, while pulling Sierra behind him with his left, "Can you take these two on your first trip?" Jack asked while hoisting them up into the Tomahawk.

"Sure, what about you, son?"

"I'll wait for a later flight," Jack said and disappeared back into the crowd.

"Okay, I can take six more, plus more in the Blackhawks. Wave two will be here shortly, and we will be back here within the hour to pick up more!"

ooO0Ooo

Optimus had been forced to reevaluate the math of this battle several times since it had begun. His original estimates had failed to take into account reload time for the human weapons, but then some of the civilian onlookers had volunteered to take position behind each of the shooters and reload their gun, while the shooter switched to a second weapon. He continued to reevaluate the amount of energon he and his warriors were expending, comparing that to the pitifully small energon stores they had at the base, and the amount of energon they would need to continue functioning until they could locate a fresh supply of the all important life-energy of their race.

Prime watched as one of the policemen stood before the approaching mass, and fired six times with his revolver, from left to right, taking down the six closest zombies to him. Without looking, he handed the pistol back to a young woman crouching behind him, who finished putting the last bullet into a second gun before handing it up to him.

Since the battle had begun, the oncoming Zombie horde had gained five feet. If they continued to advance that quickly, the battle would soon be over.

oOoOoO

Stalker knew that Duke would go along with his plan, but he was surprised that Hawk had signed off on it too. The idea was simple, since all the area's other Tomahawks, Blackhawks and other transport helicopters were tied up with other assignments, Stalker figured it was time to go back to smaller aircraft.

It would be like the air extractions they use to do back in Viet Nam, using as many smaller helicopters they could get their hands on, use them to fly in, pick up a few people and fly back out. The birds that could be equipped with door guns, would be able to perform street level extractions with the machine gun to hold the zombie's off. The unarmed choppers would have to focus on other areas that were already clear of zombies. At least, the zombies wouldn't be shooting up at them.

To that end, Stalker had hired every helicopter he could find, steal or hire.

Stalker sat with his rifle, in the copilots seat of a civilian helicopter being flown by an ex-policewoman who introduced herself as Caitlin; the helicopter itself was painted up like an American Flag and sported the company name of Santini Air.

"Check out the rooftops," Caitlin said.

Sure enough, all over the city they could see people standing on tops of buildings trying to flag them down. "Everyone," Stalker said into the radio, "Evacuating the school is top priority. Anyone with loudspeakers, tell these people that we will be back to get them later."

"Getting close to the school… would you look at that!"

Stalker didn't know what she was directing his attention to, that the streets were crammed full of zombies for as far as his eye could see, or that giant robots were among the defenders.

"Let's get to that field behind the school"

When they set down, Stalker had expected them to be mobbed by panicked people, but instead he found the crowd being controlled by a boy with black hair, wearing a grey t-shirt over a long sleeved white shirt. The boy watched each Helicopter set down, and immediately dispatched two people towards each helicopter. Stalker motioned to the boy that he still had another two seats; the boy sent two more running for the helicopter. The authority the boy was utilizing over the people impressed Stalker.

A young boy taking command in a crisis; giant robots, a helicopter flying a bus full of people; more zombies than he had seen on Zombie Movie Night back at the pit. Stalker was running out of things he thought he would never see.

0oOo0

Hawk kept a close eye on the battle at the school with one of the UAVs, while the other UAV was searching the city for signs of human survivors where a tech was marking the spots for later retrieval.

He was amazed at the sheer number of zombies coming from all over the city towards the school, but he figured if all the zombies were at the school, extracting people from the rest of the city should be easier.

"Wait, pan UAV's camera up again," Hawk said. "What is that?"

"Looks like the other UAV," Long Range said.

Hawk glanced over at the screens showing the other UAV's camera footage that depicted empty streets with people waving from windows. "No, the other UAV is downtown. Get me Scarlett and Ace on the horn."

0oOo0

Scarlett also kept a close watch on the battle, but she did not utilize the same sense of tactics that Optimus Prim was using. Her view was much simpler.

Hold the zombies off until everyone else had been evacuated. There was no way they could fail, because if they didn't, the result would be to horrible to calculate.

Still, she saw the next wave of helicopters come overhead to land on the ball field to take more of the survivors to safety. She did not know how many trips it was going to take, even though she had a partial head count. She did not know exactly how many helicopters were being used, or how many each could hold. Also in the air, Wild Bill was in a Dragonfly helicopter was flying constant patrols to protect the other Helicopters who were doing the evacuations. Ace was also flying cover in a Sky Striker.

Scarlett took a break from shooting zombies with her crossbow to answer the radio call. After listening to Hawk's urgent message, she ran over and took Shockwave's machine gun; the defenders were relying mostly on pistols for their accuracy to get a zombie with each shot.

She examined one UAV, and then the other, which was a slightly different color, and did not have a tail number registered to GI Joe.

"Enemy UAV," She shouted, then opened fire.

The UAV was bracketed with her machine gun fire, but aside from a slight swerve, was apparently unaffected.

Optimus Prime saw what Scarlett was shooting at, and recognized it at Soundwave. He turned his guns from the zombies to the Decepticon, filling the air with energon bolts that forced Soundwave to transform in order to dodge them.

Ratchet, and Bulkhead, each adjusted their firing arcs to cover Primes area.

"What the hell…" Scarlett said.

While Optimus Prime continued firing at Soundwave, the silent Decepticon took careful aim at the Autobot.

Sound wave was about to fire when a missile struck one of his legs, distracting him from the fight.

The Decepticon fired his weapons, then transformed and headed as far from the battlefield as quickly as possible.

Soundwave's shot had not gone wild. It struck its target, blowing a hole in the center of the Sky Striker.

Scarlett watched helplessly as Ace ejected from his plane to land somewhere within a zombie occupied city.

With Soundwave gone, the Autobots intensified their efforts to thin the zombie advance.

Scarlett, Jinx and Miko all saw a lone zombie getting much too close, having been missed while the bulk of the defending forces were focused on Soundwave.

Not wanting to take the time to reload her crossbow, Scarlett pulled her pistol, at the same time Jinx drew her sword, and Miko grabbed an unused shotgun while running at the zombie.

Scarlett did not fire for fear of hitting Miko, while Jinx took off at a run, her sword at the ready.

Shouting a battle cry, Miko didn't stop running until she was much closer to the zombie than she needed to be; she held up the shotgun and fired.

There was a spray of blood as the zombie lost its lower jaw, and Miko was thrown onto her back as much from the recoil of the rifle as shock from the blood spray and surprise that she had actually fired her first gun.

On her back, Miko found she was ill prepared to face the pair of zombies moving quickly in from behind the one she had wounded.

"MIKO!" Bulkhead shouted.

The jawless zombie's head fell to the ground next to its unmoving body thanks to a swipe from Jinx's sword. She moved to take out the next two, when she the ground shook and she nearly lost her balance.

"Bulkhead! Get back into position!" Optimus Prime shouted.

The zombie Jinx was about to strike disappeared beneath the huge metal foot of Bulkhead, who zapped into nothingness the rest of the zombies at his feet.

"Miko, are you alright?" Bulkhead asked.

"I'm fine, Bulk." she answered.

"We can't cover your firing arc while you are standing in the line of fire," a frustrated Ratchet said.

"We've got her," Jinx told the giant robot, as she picked Miko up and ran back to the doors of the school.

The two instants of distraction had cost the Autobots and human defenders a good ten feet by the time Bulkhead got back into position

O0o0o

Jinx dragged Miko through the school hallways.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Miko demanded.

"I'm getting you out of here," Jinx replied.

"No, I can still help! Bulkhead needs me!"

"I know you can help, but not now; right now you are a distraction. Bulkhead needs to focus on matters at hand, we all do. And we cant do that while worrying about civilians being caught in the crossfire."

Miko snatched her arm out of Jinx's grip, and stared defiantly at the ninja, taking a combat stance in the middle of the hallway. "I can fight! You don't know what I've seen or done!"

Without even realizing that Jinx had moved, Miko again found herself flat on her back. "I don't know what you have done, but you have no awareness of your environment, no firearm training, and you lack the physical strength to handle this situation with a sword. Hand to hand with these things is suicide," Jinx helped Miko up off the floor and again started pulling her to the rear school entrance. "I do admire your spirit. If we survive this, I will be happy to train you."

"My host family is dead or gone," Miko said, "I will probably be sent back to Japan after this."

"I have friends and family there," Jinx said, "They can train you."

Jinx and Miko pulled up short as they came to the large crowd at the back door. "How long before all the kids are evacuated?" She asked a man standing next to the door.

He gave her a blank stare, "Uh…"

"At least another two rotations," the teenager, Jack, next to the man answered," another three after that for the adults."

Behind the boy, the Tomahawk, a few Blackhawks and a small custom helicopter carrying a school bus landed in the center of the ball field.

Jack immediately started sending kids and chaperoning adults out to the waiting helicopters. Jade could see Jack counting under his breath to make sure he did not send out too many people.

Something else she saw out behind the helicopters, was a small group of zombies. A large green robot, smaller than Bulkhead was chasing them down, picking each one up, and throwing it back over a makeshift fence that surrounded the rear school lot. What she could not hear was the robot, Boulder, talking under his breath, "I have no idea how these things keep getting through my defense line."

"You take this girl," she told Jack, handing him Miko's arm, "and get on one of those helicopters now. I will take over here."

"I cant leave yet," Jack protested, "My mom—"

"I will get everyone out, including your mom. I promise! Now, go!"

Jack and Miko found themselves running across the ball field, and climbing on the bus. They waited, watching helplessly as more people ran out to the helicopters and every seat on the bus was filled. "Close the door, please, and we will get going," Blades said.

Miko got up, making to close the door. Before she could bolt out the door, Jack firmly grabbed her wrist.

"Don't waste the seat," he told her. Staring back at him, Miko saw ten years worth of worry, and concern on his face, and not just for her.

She swallowed her own pride and worry for the friends she was leaving behind, and closed the door.

The scene below them, as Jack and Miko watched the school shrink below them, reminded Jack of the MASH show his mom use to watch, but such pleasant thoughts were lost when he saw the masses surrounding the Autobot's position, and the knowledge that a few humans and the Autobots were all that stood between their loved ones and gruesome death.


	18. Defeat

Chapter 18: Defeat

Ace ran down the street as quickly as he could, a smoking flare in one hand, his pistol in the other.

He paused to fire off another shot at a zombie behind him. The first one missed. The second hit a zombie in the shoulder, the third took the zombie down, but there were more right behind that one. He resumed running.

He needed to find open spaces, large enough for a rescue chopper to land to pick him up, and ideally devoid of zombie activity.

Where were they coming from? He thought they were all converging on the school, but maybe he had the misfortune to run across the group that pushed the Joe ground incursion into the city back.

The intersection ahead of him looked promising; either as a pickup point, or maybe one of the other streets would be better suited for survival. Unfortunately in order to get to it, he would have to force his way past a couple more zombies.

A couple ahead still looked better than the several behind him; he ran for it.

The idea was to knock the two zombies over and run past them. It worked with one of them, but the other grabbed hold of his arm and would not let go.

It bit, and god did it hurt!

He raised placed the barrel of his pistol against the zombie's head and fired.

The limp body released him, and he continued running for his life.

The pavement behind him was torn up by machine fire thanks to the machine gun mounted on the Dragonfly's landing skid.

The zombies were not impressed; the only zombies that even noticed the hail of machine gun fire were the ones who were cut in half by it.

Wild Bill set the helicopter down as close to Ace as he could, and popped the canopy.

"Welcome aboard, pardner!" Wild Bill said, "did they get ya?"

The helicopter was airborne again before Ace managed to finish seating himself. "Yeah, but I don't think it broke the skin. Thick flight suit is good for something, I guess."

"Lucky," Wild Bill said, "Still, we better have Lifeline look you over when we land." To be on the safe side, Wild Bill quietly made sure his pistol was easily accessible, just in case Ace started to turn during the flight.

"Did you miss doing these Joe missions, Wild Bill?" Ace asked.

"Sure did. Thing about running Hulkbuster missions is that you spend most of your time kicking your heels back waiting for a sighting, and when you do get some action, you better be lucky enough to not be the one that gets the Hulk's full attention. Joe missions are a heck of a lot safer!"

0OoO0

"Overide," Optimus Prime said softly, yet firmly to himself. He could not fall into stasis lock now, too many lives depended on him.

The self administered command went unnoticed by Bulkhead and Bumblebee, but drew a look of concern from Ratchet, who also noticed that Prime had locked his legs into position, to save the energy needed to move.

"Arcee," Ratchet radioed, "I need you here now! Bring three energon infusions."

The Zombie menace continued to press forward, so that the three Autobots firing arcs were overlapping, and the humans had been forced to back up until they were standing at the robot's feet. They were losing more ground to the zombies every minute, and bullets were starting to run short.

"Bulkhead," Prime ordered, "Give us some breathing room, engage melee."

Bulkhead smiled, shifting his blasters back to reveal his hands. "All right, now you'll get to see what makes me a Wrecker!" He pounded his hands together twice, the second time they had shifted into round maces.

He jumped forward into the middle of the zombie advance, and starting swinging his arms, and letting loose with a few kicks for good measure.

With each swing zombies were reduced to goo, while others went flying.

One carless swing sent a flailing zombie flying towards the school.

Optimus Prime shot the flying zombie into nothingness and sparks like he was shooting skeet. "Careful, Bulkhead, keep them away from the school."

"Oops, Sorry boss!" Bulkhead replied without stopping his devastating swings. His attack did let some of the pressure off the defending humans and Autobots, but again, it was just another way of buying time.

Oo0oO

"Emergency Report for Cobra Commander," a brave Televiper announced from the doorway of Cobra Commander's study.

"Proceed," the Commander said.

"The has been an incident at the Omega Prison," the Televiper said, even though he had no idea what the Omega Prison was. "The report started as a prison break by prisoner Zero. His escape was covered by suppressing fire by red clad soldiers. Shortly after escaping, the prisoner returned, leading the red soldiers in a raid against the prison, where he either rescued or killed all the remaining prisoners."

"What of the prison guards?"

"They were also killed, Commander."

"And how did we learn so many details of the attack?"

"The reinforcements dispatched to Omega learned the details from a surviving janitor, before he also died."

"The Red Shadows have made a bold move, Televiper," Cobra Commander said. To himself, he thought, previously the Shadows' strongest leader had been the Black Major; but if they now had Serpentor, the Red Shadows could become a serious threat in the future. "Do not fear the Red Shadows, Televiper," Cobra Commander said, "Shadows vanish in the light of day, while the Cobra remains to strike at its enemies in light or darkness!"

0oOo0

Bumblebee scanned the face of each zombie in the crowd, as he had since the engagement began. He had been operating in Jasper for some time and recognized many of the faces, although he didn't actually know any of them.

He stopped his firing briefly, when his optics settled on a set of faces he was sure he recognized. Raf's family.

Should he try to save them, in case the process was reversible? Would seeing them help Raf, or give them closure? Would Raf even want to see what an abomination his family had become? Was what had happened to them been what was causing his friend such mental distress?

He toned a question to Optimus Prime, gesturing to the zombified family members.

"If any chance of undoing this monstrosity was possible," Optimus Prime said, "then we would never have resorted to this course of action in the first place."

"Besides, Bumblebee," Ratchet added, "even if we did cure the zombie virus that is reanimating their bodies, all that would remain would be a cured corpse."

Optimus Prime turned his own blaster on the animated bodies of Raf's family, and fired. Their bodies sparked briefly as they were turned into ash where they stood.

Bumblebee gurbled to himself a Cybertronian prayer for the dead that he thought Raf would have appreciated; then he turned back to the work at hand.

0oOo0

"I don't like what you are suggesting, Falcon," Windmill said, "There has got to be another option."

"We are past those other options now, Windmill," Falcon said, an unusual hardness to his voice. "Ace is going to be quarantined for 24 hours, so I am putting you in charge of this operation. Organize the other pilots, and get those Cobra Rattlers ready for flight. Tripwire has given the Okay; so they are not booby trapped. The thing is that those planes are the only thing we have available right now, and they came with the ordinance to do the job."

"Yes, Sir!" Windmill said, "I just don't like the thought of bombing an American town."

"If you liked it, then there would be a problem, but we all have to do things we hate to keep the world safe!"

Windmill trudged over to pick out a Rattler for himself, and started going over it, seeing for himself that it was a good plane to fly. He started working himself up to do the mission at hand, and kicked himself for arriving late to the scene. By all rights he should be out there performing extractions with the Helicopters, but he had been given a different job, and he would see to it that it was done to the best of his ability.

0oOo0

A rider-less motorcycle rounded the curve behind the zombies, and transformed into Arcee as she performed a back flip to stand next to Optimus, her blaster fire joining in with the others.

Arcee had bridged from the base to a location out of sight from the school. They didn't want questions asked about why they couldn't just groundbridge everyone to safety, the humans wouldn't understand just how unstable the Bridge was when transporting large groups of organics. In those terms, the Bridge used by the Decepticons was far superior.

"Someone needed a pick-me-up?" Arcee said, handing an energon container to Ratchet.

"Yes, cover my section."

Arcee moved to cover Ratchet's firing arc, while Ratchet took the energon container and administered it to Optimus Prime.

"Doing better now?"

"Yes, thank you, old friend."

"We need to fall back to the school!" Scarlett shouted, "We cant hold them here any longer!"

"Understood," Prime agreed, "Get inside, we will cover you until you have secured the door, then we will meet you at the evacuation point."

Low Light, Shockwave, Scarlett, and the rest of the humans defending the school, turned and ran for the School doors.

Prime and his Autobots tried to keep the Zombies from advancing further, but without the support of the humans, the zombies swarmed around the Autobot's feet and started pounding on the school doors.

Optimus Prime let himself stumble, but Ratchet was there to support him.

"We cant have our leader falling into stasis lock, today, now can we?"

"We have to keep them safe."

"We will, Optimus, we will."

Oo0oO

"Its time to go," Doc said suddenly, responding to some sense or signal that June Darby had not picked up on. He quickly rounded up all the data and vials he and June Darby had collected into a secure case, and firmly locked it shut.

He grabbed Nurse Darby by the arm and the two of them ran into the school hallway, moving at a brisk pace towards the rear of the school.

Jinx looked up at them with relief on her face. "I was about to come get you," she said, "Your ride is here!"

"What about Jack?" June asked, "Are the kids away?"

"Yes, the kids are away. This is the next to the last group and it will be a tight fit."

June had to squint against the daylight, having spent so much time bent over autopsy tables. She found herself being guided by Doc to a Tomahawk helicopter. In the distance, she saw the rest of the Autobots, including a few she had never seen before, patrolling the area around the makeshift landing pad.

June found herself squeezed in with several other people, and as soon as they were secured, the helicopters took off.

She took a last look at Optimus Prime as they departed, and she thought that Prime waved farewell to her.

oO0Oo

In the school, Scarlet and Low Light took firing positions along the hallway, while the others rushed to the back of the school where they hoped the next wave of helicopters would be waiting to take them to safety.

The windows in the doors darkened as zombies pressed up against them. The Joes were grateful that the zombies seemed unable to actually pull a door open.

They were strong doors, with reinforced glass; Scarlett felt sure that if it had only been a few zombies then the doors would hold indefinitely, but with the pressure of a hundred or more zombies applying constant pressure to it, the outcome was less certain.

As it was, the door held; it was the doorframe that suddenly came crashing down with a loud bang and a cloud of plaster dust.

Scarlett and Lowlight immediately opened fire, trying their best to halt the zombie advance, but within seconds it was obviously a lost cause.

"Grenade" Low Light said as he lobbed a metal egg down the hallway.

Low Light and Scarlet did not wait for it to go off. They turned and ran for the rear exit.

"Quickly, quickly, quickly!" Scarlett was shouting as she Low Light and the rest of the remaining humans ran out of the school towards the landing pad.

The next wave of helicopters was just starting to land.

"Everybody into the choppers," Scarlet said as she ran towards the one painted red white and blue. It looked like this wave was a hodgepodge of military surplus, civilian, and movie stunt helicopters, which it was. Stalker had hired out just about every helicopter and pilot in the Nevada/California area. He was even surprised to find out that many of the pilots employed by Santini Air had surprisingly high clearance ratings, which simplified things considerably.

While they were climbing aboard the helicopters, Prime and the Autobots opened fire on the zombies that were trying to pour out of the building after them.

Again, as each helicopter was filled, they immediately lifted off. It was a tight fit, but everyone managed to climb aboard a helicopter.

"Swing by Prime on our way out," Low Light told his pilot, who nodded.

The helicopter hovered near the massive robot's head long enough for Low Light to shout, "Meet us at the west Terrordrone!"

Optimus Prime nodded, and the helicopters were off.

"Cease fire, Autobots," Prime commanded, as he disengaged his blasters and allowed himself to rest. The zombies had no interest in giant robots they could not eat, so without the live humans, the zombies left them alone.

"What now, Prime?" Arcee asked.

"Now, we refuel and meet up with the Joes at the Terrordrone to the west to organize the rescue of the remaining humans in the city."

"We have exceeded our fuel reserves," Ratchet said. "If we have to engage in any sort of additional prolonged combat, we will be operating at critical levels. If we should face the Decepticons in this condition…"

"We cannot afford to worry about that now."

0OooO0

"Jack!" June shouted two seconds after she stepped out of the helicopter, looking franticly around the people getting out of the helicopters and the crowds of people who were standing outside round building adorned with Cobra's symbol. "Jack where are you?"

"Miss. Darby!" June found herself the recipient of a very unexpected hug as Miko had run up and wrapped her arms around her. Miko backed off just a suddenly, embarrassed. "So, um… How was Bulk?"

"Bulkhead was swinging with the best of them last I saw him."

"That's my Bulkhead."

"Where's Jack and Rafael?

"They are inside, Jack will be so happy to see you! I left him with Raf and Sierra. They don't let you go inside until you have been checked by the doctor… each time!"

"Better safe than sorry, I suppose."

The two women waited in line, and tried not to be embarrassed as they were checked again for any bites or open wounds.

Inside, June found Jack sitting in a circle, in-between Sierra and Raf. His face lit up when he saw his mother's face, and he stood up and walked out of the circle to greet her with a huge hug.

"Glad to see you hanging in there," June said.

"You too, Mom."

0OoO0

Hawk stood next to Flowler, Optimus Prime was not sure exactly when their human liaison arrived on the scene, and addressed the Autobot leader. "I wanted to thank you personally for your assistance with the current situation," Hawk said, "Without your support we would have lost a lot of lives today. You didn't have to help us, and none of us will think any less of you if you should choose to back out now."

"General Hawk, we, Autobots, appreciate your thanks. The freedom of any sentient life is at the heart of our beliefs, including the freedom to live. You can count on our continued support to see this crisis through to the end."

"Thank you," Hawk said, then got down to business, "We have already identified several holdouts of survivors within the city, but we would like to take advantage of your scanners to make sure we locate and extract them all."

"Is the locating of these holdouts all you require of us?"

"Well, it would be nice if you could also act as a diversion to draw any zombie presence away from the areas where we are performing the extractions."

"Agreed, we will be able to perform those tasks easily."

After the briefing, Arcee found a moment to speak with Prime alone. "You did not tell them about how low on energon we are; don't you think they could help us in return?"

"I trust the humans we have befriended," Optimus Prime said, "but there are many who may choose to use any such vulnerability against us. It is also important they know that what we do today, is not for personal gain."

O0o0O

In the middle of an empty street, Chase walked calmly down, visually inspecting each building.

"This one," Chase said, as he popped a smoke flare, and radioed the Blackhawk helicopters that were teamed up with him. "8 survivors inside, now engaging in diversionary action," Chase transformed, and mentally kicked himself, he didn't have to resort to his 'robot speak' here. Still, he supposed it was still good to maintain the habit.

He turned on his siren and took off down the road. Attracted by the sounds the apparently empty streets were filled with zombies.

Oo0oO

"I wish you were doing this one," Windmill said to Ace, who was still sitting in a quarantine cell.

"Funny thing is," Ace answered, "for once, I'm happy to be sitting a mission out."

"Well, you are still alive, I guess you aren't infected."

"Yeah. I hear they have finished with the evacuation. Giant robots, do you believe that?"

"I am about to bomb an American city into dust to make sure no zombies survive, before our ground troops go in to make absolutely sure all the zombies are dead above and below ground. After that, believing in giant robots is easy."

"Still, fly safe, and happy hunting."

"Will do, Ace. Stay healthy."

Windmill left Ace and joined the other pilots. They didn't need to go over the flight plan again. No one wanted to anyway. In silence, they each went to the Cobra Rattler they had picked out.

The blue jets, fully loaded with bombs, took off vertically, and then moved forwards as their wings tilted back forward. In formation, the Cobra Rattlers turned towards the forsaken town of Jasper, Nevada.

0oOo0

Jack and Miko found their way to the roof of the Terrordrone. The sun had long since gone down, but Miko and Jack found themselves staring at a brilliant glow in the distance.

"That is a lot of fire, isn't it?" Miko said.

"Yeah," Jack answered. "So much for home."

"That really wasn't our home, Jack," Miko said, "Our home is in a bunker over on that mountainside." She pointed over to a distant mountain. "Our home is with Bulkhead, Arcee and the Autobots. There will always be other towns."

"Easy for you to say, you're from Japan."

"Yeah, and do you know how many times Japan has been leveled by Kaiju?"

"Those are movies."

"Same difference. The point is, the buildings are not what is important, Jack, it's the people."

"Thanks, Miko," Jack said, putting his arm around her as the two of them watched the flickering light in the distance.

"So, are you and Sierra dating now?"

"What? You ask that now?"

"Hey, we were dangerously close to having a moment there… and I… don't think I'm ready for that quite yet."

"We've all lost a lot, Miko, we should be glad for what we have."

Miko didn't answer, the flickering light in the distance glinting off of tears that were quietly flowing down her face. She put her arm around him too, and the two watched in silence.


	19. Epilogue: Victory

Epilogue: Victory

Specialist Trakker sat watching a group of children play outside one of the Terrordrones that surrounded what had once been the city of Jasper, Nevada. He was lost in his own thoughts, some centered on his son, Scott, but most had to do with the huge loss of life and property in the former town where nothing bad ever happened.

He completely missed Snake Eyes and Scarlett walking up on him, "Hey," Scarlet said.

"Hi," he said, then paused. "We lost this one. We lost this one big time."

"Don't say that," Scarlet said, with a hard edge to her voice, "Don't ever say that." Then she pointed to the children playing, and the various adults who were just starting to take stock of what they had survived and were beginning to wonder what they would be doing next. "If not for us, the loss of life could have been total. Every single person, man woman and child, is a victory for us."

"Seems like a small victory."

Snake Eyes placed a reassuring hand on Trakker's shoulder. "You don't really believe that," Scarlet said. "People like Helix cope by marginalizing human life; they think of things as pure numbers because they have to. You are not like that, Trakker. You still manage to care; never lose that."

"Thanks," Trakker said, not sure if he meant it or not.

"Anyway," Scarlet went on, returning to the original reason she had wanted to speak to Trakker in the first place, "Snake and I know you have been treated as a bit of an outsider by the Joes. We just aren't use to you, since you have been doing most of your work with your specialized MASK team, but we wanted to say, you do good work. Without you, things could have gone a lot worse. Stalker said that while he was hiring pilots and choppers, you paid for some of them out of pocket when they wouldn't accept our initial terms. You didn't have to do that… so, Thank you. It was a real pleasure to work with you, and we look forward to doing it again in the future."

Specialist Trakker stood, and assumed a serious expression as he shook hands with both Scarlet and Snake Eyes. "Thank you," he said, "honor was all mine, and I too look forward to working with you in the future."

oO0Oo

A few days later, the entire surviving population of Jasper had been dispersed across the United States. A few here, a few there, all with orders from the Government not to discuss anything about what had happened until such time as a policy was determined concerning future zombie outbreaks.

Jack and his mother found themselves living in a prefab house that had originally been built to house Hurricane Katrina survivors, but had since been moved to just outside Los Angeles. It was a much larger city, and was taking Jack some time to get use to it.

Jack and his mother were not alone, they had taken Raf and Miko in on a temporary basis. Partly to provide some stability for Raf's recovery, but mostly because government red tape made thins move slowly. Jack really didn't mind that, except that the house was cramped with the extra people.

Outside the house, it was just as crowded. Bumblebee stayed as close to Raf as he could, when he wasn't on duty. Fortunately his mom's new car was gone, Bulkhead was parked in her spot, waiting for Miko.

"Hi Bulk," Jack said as he passed the large green vehicle.

"Morning, Jack. Miko still sleeping?"

"Yep," Jack said, "Up for a ride, Arcee?" Arcee was the motorcycle parked in line behind Bulkhead.

"Always," She said as Jack climbed on. "Where to today? A ride through the city?"

"Nah, I'd prefer to avoid people today."

Jack tried to forget himself and everything else as the desert landscape flew by as Arcee broke speed records, and then moved offroad. But as much as he tried to forget himself, he always knew he was right there underneath everything he tried to distract himself with.

As usual, the ride ended too soon, with a Groundbridge back to the Autobot base.

Jack found himself on his own again, as Arcee had other duties to tend to. He tried watching TV, but not only was nothing on, but television reception just wasn't as good without the Jasper broadcasting stations.

"What is wrong, Jack?" Optimus Prime asked. The giant robot stood eye level with the raised portion Jack, Miko and Raf used as a play room.

"Nothing, Optimus," jack said, "I'm just feeling down, when I really shouldn't be. I mean I'm alive, right? And everyone I cared about is fine too, so I should be feeling great, right? I'm one of the lucky ones."

"I see," Optimus Prime said, "You feel guilty because you feel you have survived the disaster unharmed while so many others have lost so much."

"Yeah, I guess. I really hadn't thought about it that way before. I guess I really do feel guilty."

"I have felt the same, many times. I am sorry, Jack, this is something you are going to have to find the answer to yourself," Prime said, "I watched you during the crisis; I saw how you took charge and handled yourself. What you did, did not come without cost."

"Really? What did I loose?"

"Your childhood; you have always been more responsible than you peers, but took responsibility in the situation as an adult, and I fear that you can never go back to the carefree life you had before," Prime answered, "but know this, I am very proud of you."

0oOo0

Its show time, the Cobra Commander thought to himself as he prepared for the first of many political calls he was about to make. The first message was to the Scottish Parliament.

"Ladies and Gentlemen; I understand there is some resistance to the proposed building project of a wall encompassing both lands associated with clan McCullen, Castle Destro and Castle Darklon.

"Personally I am surprised you did not pass the motion simply for the tourist revenue it would generate to have your own Scottish 'Great Wall.' The real reason that I am in favor of the construction of the wall is for the protection of innocents. You will see in this video:"

The Cobra Commander's hooded face disappeared from the screen to be replaced by American footage of Cobra Rattlers as they bombed Jasper, Nevada into nothingness.

"This footage is of an attack on an innocent town on American soil by what appear to be Cobra equipment. Those Cobra Rattlers were captured by the international Action Force, GI Joe shortly before this video was taken, for as the internal cameras show, the pilots of those craft are American agents of GI Joe."

The camera changed to show Windmill in the cockpit of his Rattler as he was flying over the city. "I still cant believe we are bombing our own city."

The camera shifted again to a different pilot in a different plane, "Man, I think I just hit a church!"

The image returned to that of Cobra Commander.

"Any country who seeks to discredit Cobra's independence as a nation by staging an attack on its own cities, would stoop to anything. This is why I propose the construction of this wall! James McCullen is a known associate of Cobra, making his lands a prime target for Joe retaliation. Please help us protect the innocents who would be caught up in the fight between the imperialist America and an independent Cobra."

0OoO0

The Joe Psyke-out sat across from Raf in an office designed to set the patient at ease. Both were also aware of the yellow car parked right outside the window.

"Hi, My name is Dr. Rich, I will be helping you with your recovery. I understand you are staying with the Darby family? I hope that you like your stay. Many of your records were lost, so we are still trying to locate your extended family."

Psyke-out knew it would be too easy for Raf to automatically start talking with him at this point in the treatment, but it was early yet, and he had a lot of new and experimental treatments he wanted to try.

0OoO0

"Prime, this is Agent Fowler."

"Yes, Agent Fowler," Optimus Prime answered the radio call.

"I need you to open your ground bridge to these coordinates."

"Very well," Prime responded, "Agent Fowler, these coordinates are deep within a mountain."

"Don't worry about that, just open the bridge."

Prime shrugged, and gave Ratchet the signal to open the groundbridge. There was the usual swirling vortex and a golf cart drove into the Autobot base, towing a trailer that would normally be towed by a truck.

"My gift to you, to say thanks for helping out here and there," Fowler said from the seat of the golf cart.

"What is this?"

"Look, Prime. I know you have been hurting. You guys would complain about the lack of energon, and that was before you performed a holding action that lasted longer than your typical con-fest. I figured we owed you a little something to pay you back. As it happens, I know a lot of people, and a lot of the people that I know don't exist, and these nonexistent people belong to other groups that also do not exist, and some of these nonexistent groups do their job to police alien activity on the planet. Now I'm not going to tell you which group, but one of them happened to confiscate a Skuxxoid transport's cargo. I told them that I would be able to safely dispose of the cargo for them, without it falling into enemy hands."

Fowler opened the trailer to reveal a full load of processed energon.

"By the allspark!" Ratchet said, virtually drooling.

"I do not know if we can accept…" Prime started to say.

"Look, Prime, I made a promise to dispose of this stuff, so, can you help me dispose of it or not?"

"Yes, Agent Fowler, we accept," Ratchet said, "No matter what he says, I can think of at least five ways to dispose of it off the top of my head. Six if we call Wheeljack back in."

"Looks like I have my answer," Fowler said.

0OoO0

Cobra Commanders next message was for various terrorist groups and middle east countries.

"In the past, you have doubted Cobra's ability. You said we were a group of the past, toothless in our old age. Well, now I want you to behold the power that is Cobra!

"Look up the city of Jasper, Nevada. It is a small town the south west of the United States. At least it was! The impotent American Government has been spreading many lies about the town; That it never existed, that it was evacuated and burned because of some plague. Some stories laughably report that a zombie epidemic occurred in the city. This is the truth: I destroyed that city, not with disease or monsters, but with a squadron of Cobra Rattlers! Behold:"

The image on the screen changed to show a slightly different version of the footage he showed in the Scotland message. Cobra Rattlers taking off, and gun camera footage of the planes dropping bombs on the city of Jasper.

"Cobra is more than capable of taking on any of these so called Superpowers, and Cobra is more than willing to support you in your struggle against the United States and their allies, provided that you also support Cobra!"

0OoO0

"We are proceeding with the wall project, Lord Destro?"

"Yes, Darklon, we are," Destro said, "With government funding, no less."

"I will never know how the Commander manages to accomplish these things."

"Yes. These are the plans I have submitted to the Government and to Cobra Commander for the wall we are building," Destro laid out a series of technical schematics and drawings on the table. They included details as to where the wall was being built, details about the visitor center and scenic overlooks for tourists, as well as placements for anti-aircraft guns that were strategically positioned, but out of view of public eyes.

"Impressive."

Destro laid out another set of plans three times thicker than the first that detailed a modular movement system even more advanced than the Silent Castle, and a vast array of hidden weaponry. "This is the wall we will actually be constructing.

Underneath his mask, Darklon's eyes grew wide. "This is beyond anything I have ever seen before."

"I recently came into possession of some new technologies that I felt should be tested in this building project. Also… I have no doubt that Cobra Commander will one day unleash his zombie apocalypse, but with the… uneasy relationship that Cobra has had with me in the past, we cannot be sure on which side of this wall the Commander will release his virus. And I fully intend to survive, whatever happens!"

0OoO0

Cobra Commanders final message would have to be handled live; timing was everything. Language translation software was in place, and finally it was time. The two way monitor in front of the Cobra Commander came alive and showed the highest ranking General in the Chinese military.

"Greetings, General," the Commander said, "Have you watched many zombie films? Bare with me, this is important!"

The screen changed to show ground and hospital footage of zombies attacking people in Jasper, Nevada.

"While zombies use to be fictional, I have managed to perfect them, and what you are seeing is the result of my first test of the formula. The city this footage was taken in no longer exists.

"Many people have theorized that China would the most effective country when it comes to putting down a zombie infestation. The reasons for this are due to your willingness to disregard human rights, and the effectiveness of your armies. I propose to put this to the test. Suppose then, that your own army was the source of the zombie infestation, would you be able to put it down then?"

The Cobra Commander could see that he Chinese General had about enough of such an insane conversation.

"I see your assistant missed his breakfast this morning," the Commander said, "Oh dear, it looks like he is sick with something. I do hope he doesn't die."

The General looked at his aid, who had gotten very pale and clammy. He started coughing up blood, and before long collapsed.

While the General stood back, a lieutenant, reached over and took the man's pulse. "He's dead!"

"Be careful, General," The Cobra Commander said, "Sometimes the Dead come back to prey on the living!"

The Dead man stood and attacked the lieutenant, but another soldier (one under Cobra's employ) shot the zombie dead before any more damage could take place. "What have you done?" The General asked the Commander.

"The same thing I have done to your entire army. Now, you will add a line item to your military budget of an amount we will discuss later. This line item will go to help fund Cobra and buy us arms. But look at the bright side; you are not paying us not to infect your army with the Compound Z zombie virus, you are paying us to continue to administer the antidote!"

The Cobra Commander cut the feed and laughed.

0OoO0

It had taken a while, but Miko was finally sent home. It had been a tearful farewell at the airport between her and the Darbys. Raf had not been there, he had to go to a therapy appointment, but they seemed to be helping. He still wasn't talking, but he was taking a more active role in his own life now.

Miko wasn't home long before she remembered why Jasper had seemed so much more exciting than home. She had immediately fallen into old habits as the rebellious teenager who still tried to be the dutiful daughter for her mother. Only her mother; her father was worried she was going to get knocked up.

As she got ready for school, she kept thinking about how the boys that she use to hang out with didn't really interest her anymore.

She kept thinking about Jack. She hoped that he would be happy with Sierra… of course Sierra and Jack now lived in different states. Sierra was the type of girl that Jack deserved. Pretty, nice, well behaved, and not about to embarrass him by doing something stupid.

Miko realized her face suddenly looked sad. She forced a smile and examined herself in the mirror. She hated the school uniform. It made her look like a respectable young woman, when she knew she was really a Punk Rocker at heart. The uniform made her look like a secretary or something, or maybe even like someone who did deserve a boy like Jack.

She shook her head and grabbed her two bags, the first contained her school books, the other contained two pairs of clothes; one was her work out gi that she wore to martial arts training (Her father had no idea how she had been accepted into the Arashikage School of Martial Arts) and her street clothes that she didn't mind if people saw her dead in.

Her school day passed quickly, and she found herself at her martial arts class, the one that had been recommended to her by Jinx. She could have sworn that the location had formerly belonged to a bookstore, but she attended the classes there anyway with a few other students.

She didn't mind the start of the class, learning basic forms and kicks and punches, what she did mind was the second half that dealt with the "more advanced disciplines." As far as she could tell, the more advanced skills just included breathing. She feared she would never be known for meditation.

She had several instructors, the one she had today chose to keep his face hidden by a white mask as he barked out instructions to the class.

"Breathe in… Breathe out… Relax into the meditation…"

For once, Miko felt she was getting the hang of the whole meditation thing, only to be rewarded by a scabbard smacking her on top of her head.

"Hey, What gives?" she said in English.

"You are over thinking your meditation," he said in Japanese.

"At least I wasn't snoring this time," she answered in Japanese while giving the man a look that was half angry glare, and half pout.

"Do it again," he said.

She tried again, focusing on her breathing.

Her watch alarm went off, and Miko leaped to her feet with a speed that the Ninja found impressive in spite of himself. "Sorry, Sensei. I gotta go!"

She grabbed her bags, and ran out the back door of the dojo, just in time to walk through the swirling greenish blue energy vortex of the Autobot's groundbridge.

The man in the white mask walked to the side of the Dojo where a woman in red, who hadn't been there a moment before, stood waiting for him.

"Well what do you think of her?" Jinx asked.

"Its almost like training you!" he answered.

Oo0oO

In a secret location, the Black Major assembled his most trusted Red Shadows for a special ceremony.

"I provided you with the key to your cell, and a small squad of Red Shadows to provide cover fire," the Black Major said to the former prisoner who stood before him, "You took those opportunities, won the loyalty of the troops and turned around and led an assault back into that same prison! You have done well, and proven yourself worthy."

"I need prove myself worthy to no man!" the man responded.

"You are the one called Serpentor?"

"That is what they call me. I have had many names in my many lives."

"Our former leader, betrayed the organization that was loyal to him to found another based on disloyalty and betrayal. I have studied you, and many of your plots failed only because you did not have the full loyalty of those under you. Because you passed a the same test of loyalty and authority that I did when the Baron recruited me, I offer you now a chance to change that."

The Black Major held out the distinctive helmet that was forever associated with the Baron Ironblood, "I offer you a new name, a new identity, and unquestioned loyalty. Rise again, as our Baron Ironblood."

Serpentor reached for the helmet, contemplating the possibilities. "I shall! With me at their head, the Red Shadows will spill the blood of Cobra and the Joes in the streets everywhere..."

"And that blood shall cast a Red Shadow across the world!" Black Major added.

Behind them, the Red Shadow troops all intoned their battle cry... "BLOOD! BLOOD FOR THE BARON!"

Oo0oO

It had taken June Darby a long time to make up her mind for what to do next. The job market was difficult, but there were still nursing jobs just about anywhere she wanted to go.

The house was a lot quieter now that Miko had gone back to Japan, and while she did miss the Japanese girl, she did not miss Miko's taste in music.

They still had not been able to locate any of Raf's extended family, but June admitted to herself that she was not really looking very hard, and neither were the social workers on the case. She was getting Raf the very best in counseling, but that came with an implied price tag, if he should need long term treatment, and June feared he would need long term treatment, and not the same quality she could get from any of the Hospitals who had offered he work. While Raf still wasn't really speaking to anyone, he was starting to communicate through his computer. That in itself had been more improvement than June had expected.

So she went down to the military recruiters and signed on the dotted line, and was given a time and a place to go for Basic Training.

Only once she got there, she was called away from the others, by name. She climbed into the back of their Hummer and they drove.

"You are going to a different Basic Training camp," the driver, a man named Lance Steinberg told her. He waited, almost respectfully, as she changed into combat fatigues, and he gave her a pack, a compass and a heading.

"How far is it?" she asked.

The man just shrugged, and drove away.

She started walking, and continued to walk through the desert for what she figured were miles and miles, and began to wonder if she would ever reach her destination, or if her destination even existed. After a while, when she was starting to wonder if her legs would fail her, she began to wonder if she was going to manage to walk all the way to Canada.

Her first indication of progress and hope, came when she looked off to the side and noticed another soldier, looking just as lost and haggard as she felt. At least she hoped it was another soldier, if she was seeing herself, then the sun had gotten to her and she went crazy. No, the other soldier was a man, definitely not going crazy.

Finally she and the other soldier were joined by three more, all walking the same direction, and too tired to actually bother speaking to each other.

Finally, they all reached the point of insanity, because they came to a man sitting in the shade of a tent, leaning back in a lawn chair, sipping Lipton ice tea out of a clear glass. The man was well built, had a mustache, mirrored sunglasses and the same type of Sergeant's Hat the sergeant wore in Gomer Pyle, USMC.

"Congratulations," the man said with a gravelly voice, "You just completed the easiest part of your Basic Training! Welcome to the Slaughter House! Somewhere, some higher up, looked down upon each of your miserable hides and selected you for fast track recruitment to the GI Joe Team! The GI Joe Team is made up of only the best of the best, and I am to make sure that you measure up to that standard, or die trying!

"You can call me Sgt. Slaughter! Welcome to Basic Training!"

[Authors note: And so ends Armageddon Test Run, with an epilogue that maybe leaves more plot threads dangling than it ties up. I may return to this universe, I have not yet decided, and the muse monster will have something to say about it too. Actually, I could easily continue, but this was the end I was aiming for from chapter 1 (although June's plotline was a surprise), I do not want to continue until I have a clear idea of where I am going next, and right now… I don't even know what a good codename for June Darby would be. Any ideas? OOhhhh… If I knew how to make custom figures, I would so make a custom June figure… maybe using parts of Lady Jay and Jinx, or the female Doc figure? (I don't have any of those figures so it is sort of moot.) Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the ride, I know I enjoyed writing it.]


End file.
